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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."
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