FEBRUARY 7, 2003

Montezemolo always looking ahead

Ferrari President, Luca di Montezemolo, says that the team will be going into the new Formula 1 season as though "we were a team that has never won anything, a team hungry for wins."

Montezemolo said that he believes the 2003 season will be "a fierce battle against the top car makers. But our goal is to win the World manufacturers' and drivers' titles".

And yet the Ferrari boss did look back because the new car is to be called the F2003 GA in memory of the late Gianni Agnelli, a gesture which Montezemolo said was "to pay our gratitude to the man who supported us at difficult times and whom we all, and I personally, badly miss."

Michael Schumacher told the assembled media that his goal for the season is to win another World Championship but he recognised that it is going to harder this year with McLaren looking "strong and competitive". Michael added that he felt that Williams "does not look strong enough to compete with McLaren" but he added that he also saw stronger challenges coming from BAR, Sauber and Toyota.

The team intends to start the year using the 2002 chassis in order to get as many points as possible at the start of the season before the new car is reliable and can build on that foundation.