Raikkonen feels 'huge difference' from '07

The Finn dominated last year's season opener in Melbourne but then took a while to find his feet before a late-year charge helped him secure the championship.

However, having clearly settled in well by the end of last year, Raikkonen thinks he will be in much stronger shape when this season's campaign kicks off.

"Personally I feel a huge difference to start this season compared to 2007," said Raikkonen. "Now I know the team and the way they work and there won't be any surprises.

"I've built up a good relationship with my engineers and we understand each other: they know how I want my car to be set up."

Raikkonen has said he cannot wait for the new season to begin, and is adamant that Ferrari's F2008 is a better can than the championship-winning F2007.

"I believe that we're going to Melbourne with a competitive car," he explained. "The tests during the winter went very well and we did everything possible. The F2008 is a step forward from the car we had last year.

"The team have done a great job; especially in the areas where we weren't that strong, like the behaviour through slow corners and over the kerbs. We should be strong in every situation, although you never know these things for sure."

He added: "I'm really satisfied with how the tests went. We have a strong, fast, competitive and reliable package. We should be there fighting for victories in every race and in the end for the two championships."

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali believes that speed will not be the deciding factor in the fight for the championship, however.

"I think that, as always, we need to be very careful when analyzing the data from winter testing," he said. "However, our car seems to be a good one, but we need to see exactly where the others are both in terms of performance and reliability.

"I am pretty sure that this year reliability will make the difference, especially in the first half of the season. So I want to be cautious and not say much about this until we can see what is going on. We have a great respect for all our competitors but we know we can do something good this year."