Kimi Raikkonen said he was relieved to have come away from the Bahrain Grand Prix with a second-place finish.
World champion struggled with set-up all weekend
Kimi Raikkonen said he was relieved to have come away from the Sakhir circuit with eight points after finishing second in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The World Champion started the race on the second row of the grid, but moved into second place behind Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa by the start of lap three.
Raikkonen proceeded to mount a challenge of sorts mid-way through the race, when he and Massa swapped fastest laps.
But the Brazilian's lead remained intact, with Massa eventually taking the chequered flag just over three seconds ahead.
Nevertheless, with Lewis Hamilton only managing a 13th-place finish in the Middle East, the Finn now leads the Drivers' Championship with 19 points.
Difficulties
And, according to Raikkonen, his result is a good one considering the difficulties he faced setting up his car during the weekend.
"The whole weekend has been pretty difficult," he said. "One of the things was 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.
"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."
