Raikkonen predicts hard race for McLaren

Raikkonen, who had started from the front row of the grid in Canada last weekend, failed to repeat the feat, finishing over two seconds off the pace set by Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari.

The Finn will start from ninth position.

"I think we had it a little difficult. Maybe we chose the wrong tyres, maybe we have different tactics than the rest," said Raikkonen.

"We will try. I think it will be very hard but we'll do the best we can."

Juan Pablo Montoya completed a poor day for the British team after failing to make the cut in the second session.

The Colombian, who was happy with his car but blamed the traffic for failing to go faster, will start from 11th position.

"It is a bit of a shame," said Montoya. "My first lap was OK, it was my fastest of the session. The second one, Michael (Schumacher) got in the way. I made a mistake when Michael got in the way as well. It doesn't matter. People get in the way sometimes.

"The last lap, I was two tenths up on my (fastest) lap. In the last corner going into the banking, (Tiago) Monteiro got in the way. He was going probably half the speed he should be doing and screwed up my lap again.

"The car was good. I think we had a good car and everything. It wasn't our day."