• Ferrari

No improvement from Australia - Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen says he is still struggling to find an ideal set-up © Sutton Images

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Kimi Raikkonen believes Ferrari arrives in Malaysia in the same place it was at the season opener, but denies his struggles in Melbourne were linked to a faulty brake-by-wire system.

Raikkonen's first race since his return to Ferrari was not plain sailing, and he spent much of the weekend in Australia struggling to get to grips with his car as he laboured to seventh. Ferrari is clearly behind Mercedes and Williams, and possibly McLaren as well, and Raikkonen is not optimistic on a big improvement in Sepang.

"I think we are more or less where we finished in Australia." Raikkonen said. "Every circuit is different and obviously it is very hot and humid here, with slightly different tyres. I have no idea, even from the past years it was very difficult to say race to race and with the new rules it will still be hard to say. Hopefully we can get a slightly better feeling and overall have a bit more experience on how everything will run."

A recent press release from Ferrari quoted Raikkonen as saying that among the "general problems" he was experiencing was the new braking system, though he stressed on Thursday that it is general set-up which he is struggling with.

"I don't know where that came from, it's not the issue and there is nothing wrong with the system," Raikkonen said. "Somebody asked me about it after the race and I said it's no issue, so it's not true. It is mainly just set-up and getting the car as I like it to run. We are making some new stuff for me and hopefully when we get those it will be easier and I'll get some more feeling in the front end. It's not been the ideal start, but it's going to be a long year and I'm sure we can keep progressing."

When asked whether he had used the time in between Australia and Malaysia to work in the simulator to try and solve Ferrari's problems, Raikkonen simply replied: "No".

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.