Promising start for the F2008 with Räikkönen

The recent world champion of the last minute, as he is already nicknamed, Kimi Räikkönen, gave the new Scuderia Ferrari car its first full-scale test.

The F2008, coded under the name Ferrari 659 during the off-season, has already proven to be very competitive according to the Finnish driver.

On the Italian brand’s test track, 55 laps were completed this Monday, with the fastest in 1:00.897.

Despite the rain, fog, and the non-definitive 2008 rain tires, the new Ferrari is already making a strong impression in the red stand and especially in front of the hundreds of fans present: « The first impressions of the new car are very positive, » Räikkönen also stated.

« I don’t think we need to make improvements at the moment. » he insists.

« There were some problems today, and we don’t have the final version of the tires yet, but the impression was really good. Next week, we have other tests to see how the car performs on track. »

« I don’t have many references or benchmarks with this version yet. I can only compare it to the last car, and according to my latest tests without traction control but with the F2007, one must be very cautious on the track. »

« Certainly, the first impression is very positive and you can handle this single-seater almost effortlessly without traction control. The time could have been better, but it was truly a good day. »

Next tests next week, again at Fiorano.

The photos of the event are available in the “Photo F1” section.