Ferrari win played down

ByEurosport

Published 25/04/2006 at 13:26 GMT

Just as one swallow does not make a summer, one win does not make a championship, and this was precisely the reaction from Renault, McLaren and Honda following Ferrari's victory at last weekend's San Marino Grand Prix - an event that often brings out the best of the Scuderia.

Imola is a sacred circuit for Ferrari as it is here that the Scuderia has enjoyed much success, often against the odds, and this year was now different as star driver Michael Schumacher and strategist Ross Brawn coupled together to extract another impressive victory.

By running light in qualifying and using all four of his allocated sets of tyres, the Scuderia had clearly learnt the lesson of last year when Schumacher got caught behind Fernando Alonso by assuring that the seven-time champion started from the front.

2006 San Marino GP Ferrari Schumacher Podium

Image credit: From Official Website

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The seven-time champion stormed away from his rivals before paying the price midway through the race as his second-hand rubber failed to produce the necessary performance. Alonso closed in at over a second a lap but even an out-of-sync pit stop by Renault failed to get the Spaniard by the Ferrari.

It was Ferrari's first competitive victory in over 18 months, and one that Schumacher believes will allow him to fight for a record eighth title. "I think we should be pretty good from now on," the German said. "We should be competitive everywhere."

However, his rivals were less impressed and only will the next race at the Nuerburgring indicate the true pace of the modified Ferrari. "Ferrari historically seem to pull it out of the bag at Imola, regardless of what's happened in the first three races and we've seen that yet again," said Honda team boss Nick Fry.

"Clearly they did a better job and clearly the Bridgestone tyres worked better," he added. "The interesting thing will be - is that sustained at Nuerburgring and beyond? We'll see."

TYRE RULES HELP FERRARI

McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh said his team could have beaten Ferrari on Sunday had Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya qualified on the second row rather than the fourth. Montoya ended up third, with Raikkonen fifth.

"We'll see now at Nuerburgring and Barcelona where Ferrari are," said Whitmarsh. "Are Ferrari considerably stronger this year than last? Yes. Are Bridgestone stronger? Absolutely - the rules were changed to allow them to be so.

"I believe that we will beat Ferrari over the course of the year, even at our current performance level," he added. "We need to lift our performance level to beat Renault - they are the benchmark at the moment."

World champion Alonso will not have lost any sleep over Sunday's race. Tellingly, it was the gain over his team mate Giancarlo Fisichella and Raikkonen that he highlighted afterwards.

2006 San Marino GP Renault Alonso

Image credit: Reuters

"Michael for sure will be a contender and a big rival at the end of the championship," said the 24-year-old Spaniard. "We also have to remember that Ferrari had a very bad season last year but here at Imola they were one second quicker than us.

"Imola is quite a different circuit so we will find out in the next two or three races who the quick cars are in 2006."

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