Late January Ferrari debut for Raikkonen
Ferrari's new car is set to hit the track in the third week of January, with a first test pencilled in for Fiorano between the 15th and the 20th of next month
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, speaking at Ferrari's traditional pre-Christmas dinner with the media, said that the car would have a shakedown at Fiorano prior to runs at Mugello.
The timetable for the new car means that Kimi Raikkonen is scheduled to get his first taste of the Italian machine at Mugello between January 21st and 23rd.
Although there have been reports this week that Ferrari were refused permission by McLaren to run Raikkonen before the end of this year, sources have told autosport.com that this is not correct.
Ferrari did enquire about the terms of Raikkonen's contract after the season finished, but once it was evident that he was tied to McLaren until December 31st, the team accepted the situation and did not make any pleas for his release.
A source close to Ferrari told autosport.com: "We did not push for it, and we completed our testing programme as planned."
McLaren, on the other hand, did push Renault to release Fernando Alonso for one day of testing before the end of the year.
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