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 The start of a new year marks both a new phase and a return for
the 'Iceman', the 2007 world champion who is back in the red
overalls of the Italian team he left in 2009 to make way for
Fernando Alonso.
The 34-year-old has moved from Lotus to team up with Spaniard Alonso
in the sport's only current line-up of champions and has plenty of
work to do with the first pre-season test in Jerez now only weeks
away.
"Kimi will be extremely busy since the beginning of January to work
in this strange machine that I don't like at all, the simulator,"
Montezemolo told reporters over a pre-Christmas lunch in Italy last
month.
"It's a joke. We have been forced to invest a huge amount of money
in this terrible, artificial, machine instead of being allowed to
test here (at Fiorano) and at Mugello."
Montezemolo has long pushed for a return to in-season track testing,
something which has been heavily limited as part of cost-saving
measures, rather than relying on virtual technology.
Four two-day post-race tests in Europe are allowed this year but
they replace an annual three-day young driver test and each team's
current allowance of eight days promotional track time.
Teams, who have had to reduce significantly the amount of wind
tunnel testing they do before a cost cap is introduced next year,
are working flat out on their new cars with the sport going through
a rule change revolution.
The old 2.4-litre V8 engines have been ditched, with a new and less
thirsty 1.6 liter V6 turbocharged power unit with energy recovery
systems introduced in its place.
All drivers will have to come to terms with the new technology, and
different ways of racing, and have already been putting in the laps
around familiar circuits in their team simulators to get a taste of
how the cars will handle.
Raikkonen, who underwent back surgery in November and missed the
last two races of the 2013 season, is not big on them. This time
last year, the Finn was widely quoted as saying he felt he could
learn nothing in such a machine.
In 2012, ahead of his first Indian Grand Prix in his comeback
season, he told reporters: "I'm not like other drivers, so I haven't
driven the simulator to learn it."
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TWO ROOSTERS
Raikkonen is expected to be first to try out the new car at Jerez,
with last year's runner-up Alonso joining the test later, and their
partnership will be closely watched for signs of strain between the
two.
Montezemolo, who once warned against having "two roosters in the
same henhouse", said he wanted two team players and assured
reporters he was not worried.
"Putting together Alonso and Raikkonen could be dangerous. But in
Formula One...everything is potential danger," he said.
"I think that Fernando knows that he drives not for himself but for
Ferrari. And Raikkonen knows that he is in the second half of his
career, two very important years for him, with experience and
responsibilities."
Describing Raikkonen as a "very correct guy" who was fully motivated
and concentrated, the Italian said the Finn's talents would mean
Alonso was no longer fighting a lone battle up front against his
rivals and would have someone pushing him hard.
"(Team principal Stefano) Domenicali has spoken very clearly to both
of them," added Montezemolo.
"They have the honor and the responsibility to drive for Ferrari, and
every driver knows that he has to drive not for himself but for the
team.
"If a driver wants to drive for himself, there are many
possibilities. They can do their own team, they can go in a
different team, but in Ferrari these are the rules."
Raikkonen remains Ferrari's most recent world champion, with the
sport's most successful outfit finishing third overall last season
behind champions Red Bull and runners-up Mercedes.
Alonso, champion with Renault in 2005 and 2006, has been runner-up
to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in three of the last four years.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
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