Raikkonen makes Ferrari test debut

VALLELUNGA: Kimi Raikkonen made his long-awaited Ferrari debut in a test at a damp Vallelunga circuit on Tuesday.   

Some 50 fans huddled in the stand at the track near Rome as the 27-year-old Finn, heir apparent to retired seven times world champion Michael Schumacher, got to grips with last year's 248 F1 car.   

"The first impression was good even if I would have preferred more laps in the dry," Italy's ANSA news agency quoted Raikkonen as saying.   

"It was nice, I was a bit excited but it was nice to be in a car again."   

Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa, winner of two races last year, tested the new F2007 car at the same time under overcast skies and occasional showers.   

Ferrari said Raikkonen, twice a championship runner-up at McLaren, completed 39 laps with a best time of one minute 15.226 seconds. Massa did 74 with a quickest of 1:14.493.   

Raikkonen, who failed to win a race with McLaren last year after seven victories in 2005, said it was hard to compare the two teams.   

"So many things are different," added the Finn, who hoped to test the new car next week.   

The season starts in Australia on March 18.   

Ferrari abandoned plans to test at Mugello, much closer to their Maranello factory, because of forecast bad weather in the next three days.