Rivals gear up for opening race of F1 season

Ferrari swept to a double title triumph in 2007 as the Italian marque won both the drivers' and the constructors' titles, holding off a strong challenge from arch-rivals McLaren-Mercedes.

 Stefano Domenicali has since taken over from Jean Todt as head of the Ferrari race team while world champion Kimi Raikkonen and Brazil's Felipe Massa remain as the driver pairing.

 The new F2008 has shown itself to be fast and reliable during winter testing and Raikkonen cut a relaxed figure as he posed for photos arm-in-arm with main McLaren rival Lewis Hamilton and Renault's Fernando Alonso.

 The Finn finished just one point ahead of the pair last year but Alonso has since left McLaren and is not expected to challenge for the title this time around.

 "Every year is a new challenge," was the Spaniard's response when asked how things were progressing for him now that he was no longer battling in the same team as Hamilton.

 "It will be a long world championship."

   Raikkonen, meanwhile, said he felt Ferrari was "in a good position" to defend both its titles although he refused to be drawn on the strengths of the respective teams.

 "The season hasn't even started yet," he said.

 Hamilton, for his part, said he just wanted to get back on the track and banish the memory of losing out on last season's title on the last race of the season in Brazil in October.

 "The break has been long," admitted the 23-year-old ahead of his second F1 season.

 With temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius predicted for the weekend in Melbourne, Hamilton said the race at the Albert Park circuit would certainly be tough on tyres but was also the perfect preparation for next weekend's race in Malaysia.

 The Briton has impressed during testing of the MP4-23 car and McLaren seem optimistic that Hamilton and his new team-mate Heikki Kovalainen will provide a stern challenge to Ferrari this year.

 But Raikkonen, who began his campaign last season with a win, remains favourite with the bookmakers to take the chequered flag this weekend and go one and lift a second successive drivers' crown.

 BMW-Sauber were expected to narrow the gap on the big two teams this season but preparations don't appear to have gone as planned with the new F1.08.

 "I don't see us at the same level as Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes at this moment in time," admitted BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen, adding that instead he saw his team competing for the lower placings with the likes of Williams-Toyota and Red Bull.

 Driver Nick Heidfeld confessed that, barring accidents and technical difficulties involving the big two teams, that he would be satisfied with a fifth-place finish.

 "I can't imagine that they could have done such poor work," said Williams-Toyota driver Nico Rosberg Thursday of his BMW rivals.

By Jens Marx, dpa