Lauda warns Raikkonen of Ferrari pitfalls

And the Austrian has warned the Finnish driver of the Italian media, telling Raikkonen that any scandal in his personal life will be magnified by the local press.

"Ferrari will need to rebuild themselves," Lauda wrote in his column for German magazine Focus. "Question is, will they rebuild as well as they did with Michael, or will it be the same old Italian chaos? Kimi must be careful that, after Michael, everything won't fall to pieces.

"It may happen, even more so because one thing is for sure: Raikkonen can drive fast, but he can't do anything else, so Ferrari must give him a complete car.

"It worked at McLaren, but they're not an emotional team like Ferrari. The Italians, by contrast, need the human component, and Michael was ideal for this. He could get the whole thing working. I can't see Kimi doing the same."

Lauda, who won two of his three championship titles with Ferrari, in 1975 and 1977, is also wary of Raikkonen's personal habits and how he may be perceived by the Italian press.

"Michael has managed to survive the press for 11 years with his private life," Lauda wrote. "Raikkonen will have to be able to do that as well.

"Italy is fully behind Ferrari, emotionally. But if they don't win, as it also happened to Schumacher, and if Kimi was found drunk, the effect would be ten times more negative than elsewhere.

"Italians look for excuses by nature, because they try to avoid being guilty themselves. And that's why Kimi risks a lot: one beer too many and he becomes the scapegoat for everything, even though he's innocent. But try explaining that to the Italian fans..."