Raikkonen says McLaren have an engine problem

Kimi Raikkonen says McLaren have an engine problem and Mercedes have a lot of work to do before the start of the Formula One season if they are to be competitive.

The Finn, runner-up to Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso last year after winning seven races, tried out the new MP4-21 for the first time at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Thursday.

He was 12th fastest out of 14 cars on track after completing 65 laps.

"I was expecting nothing before I came, so I knew we have issues with certain stuff, but we are going to get there and there is going to be some improvement," he said.

"The biggest part of the problem is the engine, but like I said, things are happening so in the coming weeks we will improve it," he added.

"They (Mercedes) are not where they should be and they need to improve. On the engine side we have a lot of work to do."

McLaren said Raikkonen had spent just under two hours in the garage on Thursday as a result of cold track temperatures and was sidelined again by a minor oil leak in the gearbox.

In comments issued by the team yesterday, the Finn was quoted as saying his first impression of the car was positive.