Kimi Raikkonen has admitted that he is disappointed by his 'far from ideal' return to Formula One at this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.

McLaren's Jenson Button claimed victory in the season opener ahead of reigning champion Sebastian Vettel and teammate Lewis Hamilton, while Raikkonen finished seventh on his first drive since 2010.

The former world champion, now driving for Lotus, was pleased to come away with some points but confesses that the weekend could have gone better.

"I made a good start, but then there was an accident in front of me at the first turn, so we lost a few places there as I had to almost stop and move on to the grass to avoid it," said Raikkonen.

"That made the race harder again as we had the speed, but a lot of traffic to get through, so when you look at all these things we could have finished in a much better position."

The Finnish driver added: "Overall the weekend was far from ideal, but the car feels good and to come back to seventh means we at least come away with some points."

Raikkonen will be looking to improve on his seventh-place finish when he competes in the Malaysian Grand Prix next weekend.