We could have won, say McLaren

Raikkonen was forced to start from the back of the grid at Sakhir after a rear wishbone failure pitched him off the track on his first lap of qualifying. Without that, the team believe they would have taken pole position and gone on to victory.

McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh said: "If he had started from pole then I think realistically we would have won. And so does Kimi.

"Even on Saturday night he said that if it wasn't for the suspension failure that he thought he could put it on pole. Like most racing drivers if they are on pole they think they can win and if they don't then it is a bit of a worry.

"I think we didn't make the best of our competitiveness this weekend, but we finished it as joint leaders in the constructors' championship. It was a damage limitation effort and I think there is a belief in both drivers and the team that we can win races.

"We just need to go out and improve the package just as we know our competitors will be."

Whitmarsh has said the team are refusing to get too carried away with their pace in Bahrain, but he does believe they are up there with Renault and Ferrari as challengers for race wins.

"We have been around long enough to know not to jump up and down over the results from the first race weekend. I think we have a competitive car and we are going to improve the car and we are going to improve the engine.

"We are going to work bloody hard to see if we can win some races. If we do enough of those then hopefully we will win a championship this time."