Raikkonen says Bahrain Grand Prix is like any other race weekend

The Finn said he had no concerns over safety at the event, and no issues with the grand prix going ahead.

"Bahrain I have no issues with anything - it's the same as it was last I was here," he said. "Everybody is racing and I am okay with it.

"For me it is just like any other race weekend - nothing has really changed. I'm fine [with security]."

Raikkonen predicted the humid temperatures of Bahrain would suit Lotus, downplaying talk of his two-stop strategy in China being either a mistake or evidence that it was hard on its tyres.

"We didn't really want it that way, but what happened happened," Raikkonen said of his tyre-derived slide from second to 14th in China.

"We tried but we couldn't make it work. The tyres actually lasted pretty well, but it looks much worse when you have people with much fresher tyres behind. We ran out though because we ran too long, not because the car was bad.

"Hopefully it will be better for us to have hot weather than cold - we'll see over the weekend - but I'm happier in this [temperature] than I was last weekend.

"Hopefully we can be up there and fight for good points and podiums. We've tried to get good results, but [they haven't been] as good as we wanted so far.

"Small mistakes in qualifying can cost you a lot. No one team is dominating and the races aren't straightforward, and that makes it a bit more tricky. It also makes it more interesting, and hopefully gives us a better chance."