Kimi on the piste - Raikonnen challenges Lewis after vodka refuel

When Formula One's last great hell-raiser turned up to face the Press yesterday, his monotone had become a decidedly groggy croak. He slipped from one octave to another in the same sentence.

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Reinventing the wheel: what Kimi will be using to steer his Ferrari

Recriminations from his Ferrari masters? No. Firstly, he is in the relaxed surroundings of the team's annual ski retreat, high in the Italian Dolomites and, anyway, the world title he won by a single point allows him to play by his own rules.

'Last year, we were hoping for success but you never know,' he said between snowboard sessions. 'We won two championships so I'm very happy for that and it's much nicer to come back here now.

'Then, I didn't know the people. I didn't know the team. It's now much easier all round. It's hopefully going to be more easy-going in the first part of the season than it was last year.

'It's a new season but it's with the same team, so I wish for a slightly stronger start to the year and then we will go from there. I want to improve my driving every time I go in the car, so as a team we can improve in those areas where we were not so strong.'

Until the first race in Melbourne on March 16, we are in F1's phoney war. A succession of launches is taking place with each team making bold statements of intent. Most of it is hot air, although Raikkonen seemed convincing and we will find out more about Ferrari's strength next week during testing in Jerez.

They unveiled an early version of their 2008 car on Sunday and it has only been for a brief spin on Ferrari's Fiorano track.

'It's hard to say exactly how you feel about the car, but it ran well,' Raikkonen said. 'The feeling was very good.'

Ferrari are tired of the 'Spygate' row that engulfed the sport last year, but they should not be hampered by it. After all, it is Lewis Hamilton's McLaren team who were forced to remove three illegal components from their new car as late as last month.

The circumstantial evidence suggests Ferrari will be the team to beat, although Raikkonen is wary of the threat posed by Hamilton, who described yesterday's first outing in the 2008 McLaren as 'positive', and his new team-mate Heikki Kovalainen.

Raikkonen, side-stepping an invitation to criticise his old boss Ron Dennis for his role in the scandal, said: 'For sure, McLaren will be challenging us like last year. The four drivers will be fast but we need to wait for the first two races to get exactly the right idea. With Fernando Alonso, it all depends on how good a car Renault can make. For sure, he can drive fast.'

Someone else who is not too sluggish behind the wheel showed up yesterday: a Ferrari test driver otherwise known as history's most successful racer, Michael Schumacher.

Raikkonen, 28, is not overjoyed by the hoopla that accompanies his illustrious predecessor. He is always being asked how often he speaks to Michael, whether he takes advice from the great man and how they get on. The answers are: as rarely as possible, no and on a professional basis.

Reflecting on Schumacher's role with no great enthusiasm, Raikkonen said: 'It's very difficult for the test drivers to have many laps, many days, because we don't have such a lot of testing. We race drivers do most of the testing just purely because we test what we get. If we are not able to test, it's good that he's doing it and, for sure, it's not going to hurt us.

'He has good experience of Formula One; he knows what he's doing. For me, it's good that he does the tests if we cannot do them.'

Schumacher has missed F1 since leaving the sport in October 2006, but there is no suggestion of a comeback. 'I'm happy with my situation,' he said.

However, Raikkonen will race against Schumacher on the slopes on Friday in the traditional closing day event, albeit with the Finn on a snowboard and the German on skis.

'It's just a bit of fun,' added Raikkonen, which probably means another night of liquid preparation.