Not many firms are happy...
Not many firms are happy to have their new model branded "a hairdresser"s car" - but Peugeot is.
Raikkonen was pleased...
Raikkonen was pleased with his progress and denied that filling Schumacherð€™s seat was adding to the strain
The post-Michael Schumacher era at Ferrari became a reality last week when his replacement, Kimi RaikÂkonen, tested one of the Italian team’s red racers for the first time.
While team-mate Felipe Massa was entrusted with Ferrari’s latest F2007 chassis, the Finn spent two days acclimatising himself by putting one of last year’s cars through its paces at the cold and wet ValleÂlunga circuit, near Rome.
Despite wintry weather, Raikkonen was pleased with his progress and denied that filling Schumacher’s seat was adding to the strain.
“People are always going to compare you to the previous driver,” admitted Ferrari’s new signing. “As that was Michael, who was the main man in F1 for so many years, it’s natural that expectations are going to be high, but I don’t feel any pressure. It was the same when I joined McLaren from Sauber and I was much earlier in my career then.” However, RaikÂkonen does admit that it may take him some time to make his mark for the famous Prancing Horse.
He said: “I will need to get used to how the team members work, and also for them to get to know me, but that’s normal.”
Ferrari has taken some of the pressure off its new signing by giving him and Massa equal status – a novel approach from a team that was built around Schumacher for the past decade.