Zoom Racing remains the biggest thrill for Raikkonen

After a difficult season, Kimi Raikkonen hopes to regain the form that carried him to championship success with Ferrari in 2007.

While Raikkonen is looking forward to the first race of the season in Melbourne this weekend, the Finn does not expect the result in Australia to be particularly representative of the season as a whole.

"Albert Park is a very particular circuit, just like the city itself is very special," Raikkonen began. "Maybe we've got to wait until Malaysia to see which teams will be ahead."

"As usual I can't wait to start a new season," he continued. "Putting on the helmet and racing is something worth living for. The number of tests has been limited, but I had fun anyway to work on a completely new car. "

Ferrari will be one of a handful of teams to run its new Kinetic Energy Recovery System from the first round this year and Raikkonen is confident that the new technology will be a benefit to the team.

"From the first test the whole team was positively surprised by how well the KERS works," he explained. "Everybody is expecting more overtaking now, but I think it's still a bit too early to say what will happen and if the lower downforce will help when you're in a slipstream."

Raikkonen finished third overall last year behind team-mate Felipe Massa and champion Lewis Hamilton.

E.A. © CAPSIS International