Raikkonen optimistic of competitive race

The McLaren driver, in his Mercedes-powered McLaren team's 600th Grand Prix, will start from fifth place after finding more speed following a difficult practice yesterday.

Raikkonen was pleased with his showing and is hopeful the team will be competitive in the race.

"I am happy with the result today as we were not entirely comfortable with the car in the Friday practice sessions, but today was much better, and I was able to push and get the best out of the car," said the Finn.

"Everyone has worked really hard and as a result the balance of the car has steadily improved. I am confident that we can definitely be competitive in the race tomorrow, but it is always hard to tell until we see how the strategies unfold."

Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya endured a disappointing session as he struggled with the handling of his car, finishing down in ninth position.

"This was not a great lap for me as I was still struggling a little with the set up of the car," he said. "We had to change quite a bit to improve the handling of the car throughout the practice sessions which resulted in a compromise.

"However our race pace is generally strong and I think that we have demonstrated good speed in the first two sessions. It looks optimistic for tomorrow's race, as long as we get a clean start of the line, as overtaking at this circuit is possible."