The Ferrari driver has struggled with the handling of his car all weekend and qualified down in seventh position, five places and a full second behind teammate Sebastian Vettel.

His cause was not helped by having just one run on medium tyres in Q3 because a tyre blanket had ruined the other set.

"We had one new set of tyres we probably would have used in last qualifying but for some freak reason it got burnt in a blanket and destroyed," said Raikkonen.

"That is part of the game. It's been a difficult few days but that is part of the game and tomorrow is the race so hopefully we can score."

Raikkonen had removed most of the updates introduced by Ferrari in Spain after he struggled with a lack of grip.

The Finn said he wanted to make sure it was not the updates that were causing his problems.

"I was unsure about what we used on the first day, it was a difficult day, and I wanted to make sure it was fine," he said.

"Obviously the new package works as it should now. In qualifying on the last set it was poor grip and a bad lap, and we had one set of tyres – end result was pretty normal.

"It was my decision plus the team's. We knew that there was a risk and it might be difficult but I think the outcome would not have been as bad, but in last qualifying it was slower than second qualifying.

"I was prepared to take the risk and see what happens, it was okay until that point."