Raikkonen cautious on engine situation

Kimi Raikkonen is staying cautious about his prospects for the Malaysian Grand Prix, as he is still unsure if he will need an engine change that weekend

The Ferrari driver took a dominant win at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, but he had to slow down in the final stages of the race after the team found a water leakage in his engine.

The Italian squad will check the power unit before the next race in Malaysia, where high temperatures are expected to put an extra stress on it, and then decide if it needs changing.

If the engine is replaced, Raikkonen will be hit with a penalty that will relegate him ten places on the grid.

And although the Finn is hopeful no engine change will be needed, he remains cautious.

"I think we used the full potential for most of the race but we had a small water leak in the engine so the engine was getting hot, and we had to cool it down," Raikkonen told autosport.com after testing at Sepang. "Hopefully it is okay.

"The engine has been checked, we need to see what we do. We will decide on Friday or Saturday. We are trying to look at the situation.

"We have to wait and see on Saturday. So far the engine is okay but we will see," he added.

Despite his dominant win in Melbourne, Raikkonen is not getting carried away, and reckons anything can happen in the next race in Malaysia.

"I don't know, I think so. We have a good package, we were very strong in the last race but you never know... We were unlucky as a team in the last race.

"Anything can happen. We have to work hard and try to improve our times, then we will be in a position to fight for the win."