Raikkonen bemoans poor qualifying

The Finn McLaren driver, who last year won the race from 17th on the grid, was unable to repeat the feat following a dismal qualifying session, in which he missed the top ten.

Starting from 11th, Raikkonen recovered well and went on to finish in fifth position.

The future Ferrari driver, however, admitted he was hoping for more ahead of the weekend.

"That was a good result for where we started the race, but it is not really enough to be fighting for fifth place, and not what we wanted out of the weekend," said Raikkonen.

"The car felt a lot better today especially in the long runs, but our race was lost in qualifying yesterday where we just couldn't get the speed out of the car that was possible."

Pedro de la Rosa, on the other hand, endured a difficult race as he struggled for grip after having opted for the wrong tyres for the weekend. He finished down in 11th.

"That was really a difficult race for me today," said de la Rosa. "Starting from 13th on the grid it was always going to be tough to move through the field, as everyone around me was on very similar strategies.

"I really struggled to get any pace out of the car as my tyres just had no grip. This weekend could have been a lot better if we had been on different tyres."