The Finn missed out on track time in free practice in Australia last weekend as his team worked to give him a steering system that suited him.

In the end it could not find a solution better than the original set-up on the car, so the 2007 world champion had to get through his first weekend back without being totally comfortable.

"We have some things [to try]," Raikkonen told reporters in the Sepang paddock. "It is just a matter of getting it right.

"It is many things. It is not as I have been used to in the past, and it is not as perfect as it should be.

"The team is working hard since we knew about the issue, but it is not the easiest thing to fix. But we have a new one to try and hopefully it will be OK."

The Finn added that overall he was happy with his Lotus, and now he has a race under his belt he doesn't feel much has changed with the performance of Formula 1 cars since he left the sport at the end of 2009.

"The feeling is the same," he said. "The downforce is more or less the same as it was at that time. Maybe we have more now, but handling wise it is very similar.

"In the race it was good. There are areas you want to improve, but it is never going to be perfect. You always want something better."

Raikkonen also said he was surprised at how comfortable he felt with Pirelli's tyres during his first race with the Italian firm's rubber.

"The tyres were really good," he said. "I took it easy, and probably I expected to have more problems with them.

"I didn't have any knowledge, so I was surprised how well it went. The second set [in the race], I think we could have run the whole race with them."

Autosport.com