Raikkonen: Out to defend his title

"The F2008 is far superior to the F2007. We are ready to fight for victory in the first race of the year," said the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher during the final pre-season tests in Spain.

 Raikkonen took the place of the retired Schumacher at Ferrari in 2007 and won the world title in dramatic fashion in his first year with the Italian team - beating the McLaren-Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by one point.

 He clinched the trophy in the Brazilian season-ender, his sixth season win only enhancing the reputation as a cool and calculating driver which earned him the nickname "Iceman."

   "It's a great feeling. We have a great team, so we put everything together and just believed in ourselves and worked," he said.

 The Finn now knows he is the man to beat in 2008 where Hamilton wants to confirm his talent and the ex-champ Alonso could be a threat as well despite returning to Renault.

 "The fact that I won the driver's title last year gives me the certainty that I can try and do it this year too," he said when the 2008 model was unveiled on January 6.

 Raikkonen has enjoyed a great Formula One career since making his debut in 2001 at the Sauber team. He raced for McLaren 2002-2006, finishing second in the championship in 2003 and 2005, and then moved to Ferrari for his biggest career success.

 The 28-year-old enters the 2008 season with the experience of 121 races under his belt, of which he has won 15. He is said to be the sport's top earner with an annual salary estimated at 25 million euros (37 million dollars).

 Raikkonen hails from Espoo close to Helsinki and now lives in Switzerland with his wife, former Miss Scandinavia Jenni Dalmann.

 The wedding gave him plenty of headlines and with several other events shows that he can easily shed the sometimes dull "Iceman" image once he steps out of the Formula One world.

 He has competed under the name "James Hunt" in a snowmobile and powerboat race - seemingly choosing the name because the former British driver Hunt personified the playboy image of Formula One racing.

 McLaren officials were reportedly not amused when he was once caught with a lapdancer in a London strip club, but F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone told the Daily Mirror recently he liked the Finn.

 "Every time I've been out to dinner with him he has been as good as gold. And he's even better when he's pissed. There's nothing wrong with that.

 "He doesn't embarrass people to the extent they say: 'My God, he shouldn't be doing that'. It's just that when he wants to do something, he doesn't muck about. He just does it," Ecclestone said.

By Jens Marx, dpa