“In Melbourne, we’ll see who is fast or not”

Kimi Raikkonen says he does not know who has emerged from pre-season
testing as the strongest team, after playing down suggestions Ferrari
are clear favourites for the Australian Grand Prix.

The long-run pace of the F2008 in winter testing has pointed to the
reigning champions having the edge over main rivals McLaren, but
Raikkonen is not so sure about the situation.

"I don’t know," he said, when asked if he thought Ferrari were the
favourites. "I think we have a strong package, but we don’t know how
fast the others are. We will only see that in the race. We are quite
happy with what we have done over the winter so we will see in
Melbourne.

"I think we have good reliability. We had some small things last
year that unfortunately stopped the car in the race but it can always
happen."

Raikkonen made it clear, however, that he felt Ferrari were as well prepared as possible for the start of the season.

"We have done everything we can and it will be nice to get back
racing again," he said. "In Melbourne we will see who is fast or not,
because you cannot say from the tests. The times look close.

"Somebody goes fast one day and another guy another day. We will
wait for a couple of weeks and we will know in qualifying. But I think
McLaren are for sure strong, so we need to see how good they are in the
race."

Raikkonen claimed that the F2008 was a step forward over its title-winning predecessor in all areas.

"I think the car is stronger everywhere. We’ve improved the rear end
quite a bit and it seems to be working well with the tyres and
everything."

Alonso: "Kimi in a strong position"

"It is difficult to know from testing, but we have to see Ferrari
(are) one of the favourites and, being last year’s world champion, Kimi
is the driver to beat this year," said Alonso in an interview with the BBC.

"Lewis (Hamilton), (Heikki) Kovalainen, (Felipe) Massa, the two
Ferraris and two McLarens, all of them are capable of winning the
championship, but if I have to say one name then (it is) Kimi."

"I think Kimi at the end of last year did very good final races and
he was also lucky to be world champion being so far behind at the end.
He (has) put himself now in a very strong position.

"Now he will have the self confidence, (he is) very quick, nothing
new, and it will be interesting how he drives this year after winning
the world championship."