By Andrew Benson

Raikkonen and Alonso will battle for the 2007 title, says Hill

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren's Fernando Alonso will stage an intense fight for this year's world title, former world champion Damon Hill says.

The two men finished first and second in Melbourne and Hill believes the pair will fight a private title battle.

"Ferrari have got the edge but there's definitely the core of what you need for a really good year," Hill said.

"McLaren had a great start compared to last year, and I would say it's going to be a titanic battle between them."

Interview: Former F1 world champion Damon Hill

Raikkonen's fastest lap during the race was a second faster than Alonso's and Hill, speaking exclusively to BBC Sport, admitted that Ferrari's advantage in Melbourne was "huge".

But he said he did not think the team would dominate as they did so often in the last few years with Michael Schumacher.

Ferrari will just go, 'He's our man' - they've got their new Michael, I think Damon Hill

"Kimi Raikkonen's not Michael Schumacher, so I don't know if it's the same thing," said Hill, who won the title with Williams in 1996.

"Fernando's not going to let Kimi walk away with it, and [English McLaren driver] Lewis Hamilton did a brilliant job in his first race.

"I don't think Fernando could complain about second place. It looked like the Ferrari was just a better package - in Kimi's hands anyway.

"There isn't too much between [Raikkonen and Alonso]. You've got to remember that Kimi is not a second a lap faster than Fernando."

Hill said he was impressed with the way Raikkonen had immediately stepped into Schumacher's shoes at Ferrari.

606: DEBATE What do you think - is Hill right?

The Finn had appeared in pre-season testing to be lagging behind team-mate Felipe Massa, but he took pole position and dominated the race.

"The pressures on Kimi going into this race must have been enormous, but he's obviously just completely impervious to it," Hill said.

"It looked at the start of the season like he was not exactly settling in at Ferrari, and then, kapow, first race, he wakes up, off he goes. He's just very fast, isn't he?"

Raikkonen's Ferrari was in a race of its own in Melbourne

Massa's hopes were dashed when his car failed in qualifying and he was consigned to the back of the grid, but Hill said he expected Raikkonen to assume leadership of the team despite Massa's extra experience there.

"It is early days. Massa did some good performances at the end of last year," Hill said. "But I think he's a bit more mentally fragile than Kimi. I think Kimi's probably going to be a bit much for him.

"Kimi's come in, and first race he delivered in a style they expected from Michael, and it was a repeat performance. And Ferrari will just go, 'He's our man.' They've got their new Michael, I think."

Raikkonen delayed his departure for Australia so he could take part in a snowmobile race in Finland, which he won.

And Hill said that the 27-year-old's unwillingness to fit F1's corporate culture was a breath of fresh air for the sport.

"The guy makes his own rules up. For so long this has been missing in F1, those sort of characters.

"People say he's monosyllabic and he's not interesting as far as conversation goes, but he's very interesting and exciting as a model for a racing driver.

"He's what they used to be, those sort of characters who just didn't give a damn about anything they just did what they wanted to do and were just very fast at racing."