The Iceman found the slippery track at Albert Park in Melbourne a tough assignment.

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen, a former world champion who won last year’s the Australian grand prix, will start on the sixth row of the grid for Sunday’s opening race of the Formula One season.

Halfway through qualifying on Saturday, the threatening sky finally gave way to dump heavy rain on the circuit.

While some – Australian Daniel Ricciardo included – navigated the storm to get through qualifying unscathed, it was a different matter for the Ferrari team.

Raikkonen, battling to make the the top-ten cut-off, was the most notable casualty, crashing into a wall at turn 14.

The frustrated Finn, known to F1 fans as The Iceman, wasn’t enjoying the conditions.

“It seems to always be tricky here,” he said.

“For some reason when we come here, it turns out to be nice weather and then it rains down. That’s how it is.”

Raikkonen qualified 12th fastest but a penalty to Williams driver Valtteri Bottas will see him start 11th, alongside Sebastian Vettel on the sixth row of the grid.

The Finn’s Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso showed good speed during practice and qualifying in the dry before settling for fifth when the rain hit.

Alonso said he was using the late stages of qualifying to understand his car’s capabilities rather than racing for number one – and he did not enjoy the big wet one bit.

“Today was not fun,” he said.

“The first time in wet conditions in this 2014 car, zero practice… that’s not fun at all.”

Raikkonen echoed Alonso’s sentiment.

“It’s been difficult… We’re not where we want to be. We know that,” he said.

“In the wet, I think we had the speed but we just need to fix a few things.”

At least he was looking on the bright side ahead of Sunday’s race.

“I don’t think, when you think how difficult the weekend has been so far, it could get worse.”