Formula One news

Klien tips Raikkonen and Ferrari to lead the field

With the opening round of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship set to take place in just over one week's time, Christian Klien has taken the opportunity to examine the performance of the teams which the Honda Racing F1 Team will have to challenge in order to win races this season.

"This is my first season with the Honda Racing F1 Team and already I can see the fantastic effort that is going in to this programme. We have great people, a new car with good potential and a lot of positive developments in the pipeline. It's also good to look at the competition that we have to beat in order to achieve our goals."

With many people tipping Ferrari's Felipe Massa to become a surprise winner in this year's World Championship, Klien believes that Kimi Raikkonen will in fact prove the tougher competitor when the season starts; "A lot of people have been pushing Massa quite hard but I think that when the racing starts Raikkonen will have the race pace when it matters most. Over 70 laps he will be fast, consistent and get the most out of the used tyres. This will be important. It is one thing to set times in testing, but it's when the racing starts that Kimi will push 100% all the time."

"There is no doubt that the Ferrari seems to be the quickest car at the moment, maybe as much as 0.3s and 0.5s per lap on longer runs. Their first lap performance is probably not that much better than the other competitive teams, but it's their consistency that make them difficult to beat. We have to remember that Ferrari has 8 years experience with Bridgestone, so they know exactly how to set the car up to suit these tyres, and that's an advantage for sure."

While Ferrari appears to be the front running team in pre-season testing, Christian believes McLaren is also highly competitive and that reigning World Champion Fernando Alonso will be on the pace straight away, while team mate Lewis Hamilton has to show he can handle the pressure of racing in F1. "I think Alonso has had no difficulty getting used to working with the McLaren team and he'll be able to challenge strongly right from the start of the season. The McLaren is quick, but also very reliable, which will be a good point in the early races. As for Lewis Hamilton, he has had a lot of time in the car - probably the most testing any driver has done this winter - but now he has to show how well he can perform under the pressure of race weekend conditions."

"That's not as easy as people think for a young driver. I was 21 when I started racing in Formula One, Hamilton is 22, so I know the pressures that come with reaching the top of the sport at this age."

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