No driver aids should put a premium on sheer talent this year - something Kimi has proved to have plenty of. (LAT Photo) » More Photos

Kimi’s early troubles last year basically reflected the fact that he had changed teams, and had much to adapt – new people, new working methods, a different car, and a different tire supplier. Massa, in contrast, was already well established at Ferrari, and had won races the previous year. It took Raikkonen a while to feel comfortable within his new environment and get the most out of the car.

“I would say that there was not something specific. During the year we tried to improve the areas that were more difficult for me maybe than for Felipe, but it was only a matter of set-up or balance or a perfect way of using the tires, rather than changing something in the car itself massively. Hopefully it’s going to be easier, because it’s the second year and we know what we want from the car and from the tires.”

Of course the big story this year is the absence of driver aids such as traction control and engine braking. In theory that should give an advantage back to the very best drivers, and that list of course includes Kimi.

“It different because you don’t have traction control and things, but you get used to it after a while, it’s just a matter to fine tune everything to suit you as well as you can.

“It’s more tricky, you need to be more awake all the time, because before the traction control would help you out if you had a difficult moment, but now it’s not going to help you. It’s more difficult in that way. But for me, it’s also a bit more fun. You need to play around with more things, and I expect it will be easier to overtake, because people will make more mistakes, and sometimes you don’t get such a good exit. Hopefully it will improve the racing and then it’s more fun for everyone.”

The rules also put a premium on good tire management, and that’s something at which Ferrari usually excels.

“Last year it was already an issue for some people to really use the tires in a good way all race. For sure this year it’s going to be more difficult. We have basically the same tires, and without traction control I think the difference on lap is not so big. But over the race distance whoever can keep the tires in the best possible shape should be in a strong position.”

Some of his colleagues have expressed doubts about how cars will perform in the wet without traction control. One of the stars of Fuji last year, Kimi has no problem with it.

“I think the sport is dangerous anyhow, and it doesn’t matter whether you have traction control or not, you can have a bad accident or something can go wrong. For sure it’s going to more tricky, more difficult in the wet. But if you think it’s too dangerous, probably you shouldn’t be in the sport.”

In 2007 Kimi and Massa rarely met on track, although the Brazilian was less happy when pit strategy saw them trade the lead at Magny-Cours. A series of misfortunes for Massa led the team’s championship hopes to fall on Raikkonen’s shoulders well before his team mate was mathematically out of the picture. If the battle between the pair is closer from the start of this year, it could be harder for the team to ensure that their fight does not get out of control.

However, he denies that there’s any risk of an Alonso/Hamilton situation developing: “I don’t think so. We had close competition in the team last year already, in the end it turned out to be a better position for me. But it could have already last year already, if we were going to have any problems.

“Even though we race against each other on the circuit we have a very good relationship in the team, we have a good atmosphere, a good spirit, so whatever happens, I don’t think that we’ll have a problem. For sure we both have the same car, so we will probably have tight racing again, but I’m sure the other teams will be very good also.”

It’s already clear that this year’s World Championship will be fought out by the two teams that dominated last season, but some of those in the chasing group will make good progress as the season goes on, and may catch up with the top two. It’s going to make for interesting viewing

“Renault had a difficult year last year, but it might be a different story this year. We need to look at what the others are doing. The main thing is we need to keep pushing hard as a team and keep improving, and we should be in good shape.”

So what of the future? Kimi’s current Ferrari contract runs thru 2009, and yet there’s already speculation about what might happen after that. He’ll have turned 30 by the end of that season, still relatively young by current driver standards. But he’s made no secret of the fact that he finds the F1 environment stressful at times, and he may well decide that he’d like to spend the rest of his life doing something else.

“I don’t know, it’s too early to really decide!,” he says of the suggestion that he might quit early. “I still have two years with Ferrari in the contract, and then after that maybe next year I’ll see how I feel. If I enjoy it I’ll make a new contract. I enjoy F1 now more than before, I have a good time, and I’m with a great team and there are good people to work with. So why not? But you never know what happens in the next two years...”