Former Ferrari champion Niki Lauda has counted the Italian team's reigning title winner out of the running for the 2008 crown.

The great Austrian concedes that the 2008 championship is set to be a down-to-the-wire battle of Ferrari versus McLaren.

But even though Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, is narrowly leading the Italian team's points charge at present, Lauda thinks the Finn's teammate is a better bet against Lewis Hamilton.

"Up until now it has been (Felipe) Massa and Hamilton, because Raikkonen's performance has been going up and down all the time," the 59-year-old told the official F1 website.

Lauda points out that while all the title contenders have a tendency to make mistakes, Brazil's Massa did a "perfect job" in Hungary until his engine failed.

"For the moment Massa has the edge over Raikkonen from the driver's point of view," he insists, adding that the Finn is presently "clearly not" in the hunt to defend his crown.

Lauda won the drivers' championship for Ferrari in 1975 and 1977.

Source: GMM