Kimi Raikkonen does not expect Ferrari to make a habit of fast starts after jumping both Mercedes drivers off the line in Australia.

Both he and Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel enjoyed lightning-quick getaways in Melbourne two weeks ago, with Vettel leading a one-two during the opening stages until a turbo issue ended the 2007 world champion's race prematurely on lap 21.

Despite the brilliant starts, which some have linked to the single paddle clutch on the SF16-H's steering wheel, the Finn does not think Ferrari holds a significant advantage in that department.

"It was only one start, one race," said Raikkonen. "Hopefully it's like that always but it's not easy to make great starts all the time. There are some things that are slightly different from last year, it's a bit trickier for the teams and for the drivers with the new rules, but it seemed to work pretty well for us in the last race.

"Sometimes when you have an extra formation lap some clutches overheat, there are so many small things that can have a big effect in the race. Hopefully it would be like that all the time but I really doubt it. We just try to do the maximum we can and see where we are."

Raikkonen has taken seven podiums at the Bahrain International Circuit, including a second place finish at last year's event -- a grand prix which saw Ferrari split the Mercedes duo. Mercedes expects another close battle this time around but Raikkonen remains grounded about his team's chances.

"The target is to do as well as we can. My last race was pretty OK but then I had an issue and this is a new weekend. It's the normal story: we try to prepare ourselves as well as we can, go through practice and do the best we can - then we see the end result. There should be a big challenge from other teams. Mercedes will be fast as always but the others also. Hopefully we can be up there fighting at the front.

"That's the aim, obviously, but there's work to be done. We're quite happy with the place we started from but we're never fully happy until we're always at the front as a team. We're catching up but in Melbourne I didn't have a good result because of the retirement, but it's clear the car is definitively a step forward."