Former F1 driver John Watson says Kimi Raikkonen needs track time

That is the view of five-time grand prix winner John Watson.

Speaking at AUTOSPORT International, former Brabham and McLaren driver Watson said that while Raikkonen would have to re-acclimatise to single-seaters, he didn't expect the Finn to take as long as Michael Schumacher had to hit full stride again.

"Six active world champions in Formula is unprecedented and it's truly exciting," said Watson. "Whether Raikkonen, on his return in the Lotus, [can make a success of it] will be interesting.

"If you take the example of Schumacher, who was slightly longer out of the cockpit and found it more difficult to re-acclimatise to F1 than he may be expected, whether Kimi will go through the same struggle I don't know. I think probably not to the same degree.

"But big changes because of the aerodynamics, primarily because of the change of tyres, the limitation on testing, all those factors are going to limit Raikkonen's progress so he is going to have to really use every opportunity to be in the car to try and short cut that two-year period where he has been fooling about in rally cars.

"He must re-tune his mind from what you do in a rally car and what you do in a grand prix car."

Watson warned that Raikkonen should not expect an easy ride on his return though, adding that the landscape had changed quite a bit since he quit Ferrari at the end of 2009 and that the level of competition at the top had risen.

"There are some outstanding drivers in Formula 1 right now," said Watson. "I have had to reassess my perceptions of who I would place as the top driver of the day. And what Sebastian Vettel has done, aside from the fact that he has had the best car for the last two years, has been impressive.

"He had to work for it though, in 2010 he only won it in the last grand prix, last year he dominated. Just watching some of the moves, Monza in particular when he finally got past Fernando Alonso around the outside of Curve Grande indicated to me that while he may have the quickest car he knows how to make use of it.

"An unbelievably impressive driver, but it's also the way he conducts himself outside of the car. At the AUTOSPORT Awards in December, the way he held everybody in a spell with Steve Rider - who is no mean interviewer - and the guy is a star. That is what F1 needs. We need more of them."