Schumacher and Raikkonen Finally Head to Head in Equal Cars

Last time Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen raced against each other in 2006, Schumacher ran circles around the young Finn at the last race of the season. But they had different machinery. Now in 2008 Raikkonen will square up against the man who tried his best to stop him becoming his teammate.

When the two men start testing in Montmelo, north of Barcelona Spain next week, they will both be driving Ferraris, making this a dream come true for fans of both men. Schumacher, who can now simply be referred to as such again, without the M prefix because his brother has slowed down to DTM, will be the one to watch. He is known to offer exceptional speed during testing sessions and his times will be set as the benchmark.

On the other hand, reigning champ Kimi has now spent over a year at Maranello. He is used to how things work there and has driven the newer cars many more times than the great Schu.

Felipe Massa will relieve Schumacher for the two last days of testing. Schu has tested in Barcelona and Jerez a few months ago.

Today team Ferrari completed a whole race simulation with Massa doing 95 laps and tester Luca Badoer doing 75. Massa posted a best time that was a full second faster than Badoer. Badoer did not finish the “race” though due to an oil leak. Next week’s test will be the last before the F1 season opener in Australia on the 16th March.