Lack of grip costs Raikkonen pole

The world champion, who was quickest in Q2, admitted that he could not find the grip he needed to challenge Massa, but added that he was unconcerned by missing out on pole position.

"I was not so happy with the Q3 but the car is good," he said. "We couldn't get the grip really, but anyhow second place is a good place to start, we should have a good strong car.

"It's going to be a long hot race tomorrow and we don't know about the weather yet so we are looking forward to it."

Raikkonen also remarked that there should be no surprise about Ferrari's return to form in Sepang, which he described as a more 'traditional' circuit than Melbourne, where neither Ferrari finished the race last weekend.

"I think this is a more normal circuit so the car has been quick all weekend," he said. "I think it is a completely different circuit [to Melbourne], so our car should be pretty fast everywhere, when you start from behind it is difficult to use your own speed, tomorrow should be okay."