Raikkonen welcomes championship lead

Kimi Raikkonen was happy to leave Bahrain in the championship lead after what he labelled as a difficult weekend for him

The Finn, who had never finished in the top two in Sakhir, was overshadowed by teammate Felipe Massa all weekend and had to settle for second place behind the Brazilian in today's race.

The world champion admitted he had not found the right set-up for his Ferrari, but was pleased to end up leading the championship after all his problems.

"The whole weekend has been pretty difficult," admitted the Finn. "One of the things were that we couldn't get the car really right.

"We look at a bad weekend and we finished second, so never mind, next race will be different.

"We are leading the championship and that is the main thing, but it was not the easiest weekend for sure."

He added: "It hasn't been perfect all weekend but the problem is we haven't found perfect balance, but that is life.

"I never am too happy at this circuit, but I think out of these first three races it is important to get many points.

"I am happy to be leading and when we go back to Europe we hope we can be strong in the next races."

Raikkonen has 19 points, three more than BMW's Nick Heidfeld and five more than Lewis Hamilton.