To some extent, you've got to feel sympathetic towards
Kimi Raikkonen.
Michael Schumacher is certainly a hard act to follow in the Ferrari line-up and I'm sure many of the
F1 community felt there was some uncomfortable symbolism involved when
Felipe Massa was given the privilege of completing the first official shakedown of the new F2007 challenger.
You might be forgiven for thinking that somebody in the political corridors of power at Maranello had decided to give the Brazilian a little extra boost to help him off the 2007 launching pad as the Prancing Horse's 'sitting tenant', so to speak. But it won't make any difference in the end. Massa's familiarity with the Ferrari squad may give him a short-term edge, but the reality is that - assuming the new car has inherited much of its predecessors DNA in terms of performance and reliability - then Kimi will be so consummately quick it just might be that the Finn's first world championship crown is little more than a formality.
Of course, one of the factors which contributed to Raikkonen's split with
McLaren was his penchant for off-track partying. The McLaren top brass offered what Kimi clearly felt was unhelpful and unsolicited advice about his lifestyle, but he declined to make any alteration to the way he behaved. Beginning of end of story.
It was therefore no surprise that the question which remained unasked on Kimi's arrival at Ferrari was, put simply, whether he was going to moderate his off-track drinking? In a sense, this was prissy in the extreme, a stance from the high moral ground rather unconvincingly occupied by some of the media pack. Then, very shrewdly, Ferrari boss Jean Todt decided to take the opportunity to defuse any such wild speculation before the question was even asked.
"Finns like a drink or two now and then," he told the French newspaper
Le Figaro recently.
Yet he combined this with a gentle warning, adding: "Since Raikkonen will be much more visible at
Ferrari, we will surround him with affection and attention. If he wants to down a few with his mates, we would ask him to do it discreetly."
![Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari's annual pre-season event at the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort in Italy [Pic credit: Ferrari media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/283750.jpg)
