Raikkonen aims for Australia comeback

The McLaren driver finished in third place in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix after charging back through the field following a suspension failure in qualifying.

In Malaysia the Finn retired before the end of the first lap after he was hit by Red Bull's Christian Klien.

Raikkonen, who last year was plagued by reliability problems on his way to second place in the standings, is already 12 points behind championship leader Fernando Alonso.

"After the first two races, I am really hoping to have a trouble-free weekend in Australia, as the car feels good and I think that we can get some good results with it," said the Finn in a team preview.

"I am aiming to get a solid points finish at this race to take back to Europe."

McLaren have covered over 3,000 kms of testing following the Malaysian race in the hope to escape problems during the Melbourne race next weekend.

"Particularly for Kimi I hope for a race without handicaps before or after the start which he unfortunately didn't have in the first two races without his own fault," said Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug.