Raikkonen celebrates 'perfect' start

The Finn led the race from pole position and was never troubled by his rivals, coming home over seven seconds ahead of world champion Fernando Alonso after cruising in the final part of the event.

It was the 10th victory of Raikkonen's career and made him the first driver to win on his Ferrari debut since Briton Nigel Mansell in Brazil in 1989.

"It has been very good," said Raikkonen. "Today the race was not that easy, just before my start my radio broke and I didn't have radio for the race so it was complicated, but we had a plan what we wanted to do so we knew what to do, in some places it wasn't an ideal situation.

"It was a good race and didn't need to push too and just see what the others were doing.

"It is good to have first race and win straight away. The team did everything and this year is an ideal way to start the season. The car is very strong, the atmosphere is good and the people are making my life and easy. It is the perfect way and hopefully we can keep it up."

Raikkonen's only scare of the day came near the end of the race, when he went wide and lost around two seconds.

"I just locked the rears and was looking at something else. It was completely my mistake, I was following another car. It is one of those things that happens when you don't push hard."

The Ferrari driver's best lap was over a whole second faster than Alonso's, but the Finn is not getting carried away just yet.

"It is too early to say," he added. "We need to wait a couple of races and see where we are and a couple of other teams. We are getting some new parts for the next races, so we'll do the best we can.

"I think we are in a good position, we will work hard and keep improving and try to win as many races as we can."