FEBRUARY 18, 2006

All eyes on Ferrari

The Ferrari team is staying on in Bahrain next week to try out its latest aerodynamic package which the team hopes will close the gap between the Italian team and current pre-season favourites Renault and Honda. The team has decided that the best option from a strategic point of view is to leave its equipment in the Middle East until the first race (as have some other teams) but the others are unable to run more because of the testing agreement which is signed by everyone but Ferrari which allows for a one-week testing in February outside Europe. In previous years teams had agreed not to test outside Europe in order to save costs. The teams that have tested in Bahrain say that this was a good idea as they can run for longer (because there is more daylight) in more predictable weather conditions and they feel that the test will give them an advantage at the start of the season. Some of the other teams decided that it was a logistical nightmare to send equipment to Bahrain in mid-February knowing that it would then go on from Bahrain to Malaysia and ultimately to Australia in the weeks ahead.