2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen said that it was "nice" to return to the cockpit of a Formula One car, after completing the first day of his unofficial test for his new Lotus team at the wheel of a 2010-spec car in Valencia.
Raikkonen is driving in a two-day acclimatisation test for the Lotus team at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, ahead of his return to F1 in the 2012 season.
He completed the first day's running on Monday, at the wheel of a two-year old Renault R30, equipped with Pirelli's 'demo'-spec tyres.
And speaking to the UK Sky Sports News television station after his first run in an F1 car since the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Finn said that it was good to be back.
He added that he had immediately got back into the swing of driving an F1 car, though he admitted that it would take him longer to fully gel with the team.
"It was nice to get back in the car," the Finn muttered on Monday, "It was quite a few years since I have driven last time.
"Of course it takes a little while to get used to it. But the main driving, braking, turning, that doesn't take many laps.
"But of course to start learning about the car and team and tyres, that will take time."
The team themselves did not release any times from the test, but wrote on their Tw*tter feed that their new signing was "looking good".
They also published a series of photos of Raikkonen's day, in which he used a new helmet design.
"In terms of times, it's impossible to compare as the car is a 2010 spec R30 with demo tyres," they tweeted, "He's looking good though!"
And Raikkonen reiterated that he was returning to F1 after two years in the World Rally Championship because of a desire to race wheel-to-wheel with other competitors again.
"There were different choices to do this year and I really wanted to do racing. We did some NASCAR stuff last year and I enjoyed it a lot, racing against other people," he rambled.
"That is where I decided to do racing, and [if you are] doing racing, F1 is the highest level and probably where most people want to be.
"I found a good chance to come back and do racing with Lotus."
Raikkonen will complete the second day of his Valencia test on Tuesday, and will get his first taste of the team's new 2012 car at the first pre-season test day at Jerez on February 7th.
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