"The first impressions of the new car were very positive," said Kimi Raikkonen to the press after his first outing with the F2008 on the Fiorano circuit on wet tarmac. "I don't think we have to make any improvements at the moment. There were some problems today and we still don't have the final tyres; but the impression was really fine. Next week we have further possibilities to see how the car behaves."

The Finnish driver replied to the question if a lower and maybe shorter car, without traction control, could influence its driveability: "I don't have many points of reference. I can only compare it to the last car. I did a test without traction control before Christmas and I have to say that first of all you have to drive very cautiously and consider that a car with traction control is fast and might respond a little bit faster. Surely the first impression is really positive and you can handle the car even without the traction control. The weather could have been better today, but it is really nice to drive this single-seater."