Kimi Raikkonen insists his race tactics for the Malaysian Grand Prix will not be impacted by the fact Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel starts from the back of the grid.

The Finn qualified second behind Lewis Hamilton and could make a nuisance of himself at the front to aid Vettel's bid to push through the field as the German aims to limit the damage of the engine trouble that prevented him from posting a time on Saturday.

Vettel trails Hamilton by 28 points at the top of the drivers' standings and it looks almost certain that the German will lose more ground on Sunday.

But while Raikkonen sympathises with his Ferrari colleague, he does not intend to alter his own plans to help Vettel.

"Obviously it was a shame for the team, with Seb's issue, not having him in the qualifying, but that's how it goes sometimes," said Raikkonen.

"I think the car's going very well but they tried to fix it and then obviously had some problem. It's a shame for him. Sure he will be good tomorrow.

"I'm happy [with my performance] but I'd rather have qualified in first place. I think tomorrow is a long race, it's going to be tough for tyres and I think we should have a very good car tomorrow. I have a good feeling about it.

"As a team, we want to get maximum points out of any race with two cars and obviously for Seb we hope he's going to make a good recovery but it's not going to change my race.

"We're always going to try and make the fastest race and I don't really know what else."