The Finn secured second on the grid to complete a Ferrari lockout of the front row – but said his car wasnt handling well enough on his final set of soft-compound tyres to challenge Massa for pole.
“I wasnt so happy with Q3,” said Raikkonen.
“The car is good but I just couldnt get the grip really and I couldnt get the best out of it.
“But anyhow, second place is a good place start and we should have a strong race car.
“Its going to be a long hot race tomorrow and we dont know about the weather yet, but we are looking forward to it.”
Raikkonen is confident Ferrari can put the debacle of Australia behind it and get its championship campaign up and running at Sepang.
“This is a more traditional, normal circuit [than Albert Park] and the car has been quick all weekend here,” he said.
“I think our car should be pretty fast everywhere but when you start from behind its very difficult to use your speed, so tomorrow it should be a bit more clear who is where and what kind of speed everyone has.”
Nor is Raikkonen overly concerned about starting from the dirty side of the grid.
“Hopefully well get a good start – its up to us much more now than it was before,” he said.
“In the last race we had a very good start so hopefully we can manage to do it again tomorrow.”
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