While his team-mate was insisting that
Ferrari continues to be the team to beat in
Formula One this year, reigning world champion
Kimi Raikkonen was playing his cards a little closer to his chest, claiming that he expected pressure from outside the walls of Maranello.
Even though Ferrari does appear to have been marginally the fastest car in pre-season testing, the Finn, speaking at a press conference in his homeland, did not appear lulled into a false sense of security, and indicated that he was fully expecting a repeat of last year's tooth-and-nail battle with former employer
McLaren.
Although the Woking team was heavily fined for its part in last year's spy scandal - and continues to be under investigation from the Italian authorities - Raikkonen does not see its efforts being diminished, as has been suggested in some quarters, or that there will be a repeat of the Woking in-fighting that may have damaged the chances of
Lewis Hamilton and
Fernando Alonso in 2007.
"I do not believe that the world title will only be fought out by myself and Hamilton," he insisted, "Both [Ferrari and McLaren] have two cars and two very fast drivers [in the other car], so surely will be a very even fight."
Missing from that equation, of course, will be Alonso, who fled McLaren to return to the sanctuary of
Renault after a difficult year spent learning to share the spotlight with the rookie Hamilton. Raikkonen admits that, based on revelations from the Enstone camp, he cannot see the Spaniard being an immediate threat for supremacy.
"Fernando is a good pilot, but his options depend on how Renault has developed its new car," he reasoned, "By its own admission, it seems to lack pace at the moment."
Massa, speaking at his own press conference in Brazil, appeared to concur with Raikkonen over Alonso's chances - but also played down the impact he expected the second McLaren to have on the outcome of the championship.
