Raikkonen shows McLaren's true pace

The Finn, courted by Ferrari and others after his McLaren team announced world champion Fernando Alonso was joining from Renault next year, cancelled at a stroke any suggestion his car lacked pace.

Forced to start 22nd after a suspension failure in qualifying, Raikkonen made up eight places on the first lap despite having a car heavy with fuel due to a one-stop strategy.

"The car is good, so that is the main thing and I definitely think I will have a chance to win races and fight for the championship," he told a news conference.

"We were fast today, so that's good."

McLaren know they must provide the 26-year-old with a competitive car in the early races if they are to keep him and Saturday's failure, one of many the Finn has suffered in recent seasons, did not help matters.

Yet Raikkonen seemed untroubled.

More Positive

"Those who spoke to him late in the evening (on Saturday) said he was actually much more positive than some of us, and that's one of Kimi's strengths," said McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh.

"It pulls you back a little bit when the driver is saying 'you know, I can see the positive in this, the car was quick and I was about to put it on pole' and you are a little bit down.

"(McLaren's World Champion) Mika (Hakkinen) early in his career had a number of disappointments but he shamed some of us with his confidence and ability to bounce back so quickly and Kimi's like that."

Raikkonen is no stranger to starting from the back and last season won in Japan from 17th place on the grid.

"We didn't really know where we were after testing and people said we weren't very good but during the last month we really improved our position," said the Finn.

"When we came here the car was pretty good so it wasn't surprising but we didn't really know where we were. So it was nice to see we were strong in the race and we could have been very strong in qualifying also."