Barrichello: 'We're not worried'

McLaren, Renault and even Sauber have been topping the times at Valencia and Jerez in recent weeks while Ferrari has generally been around 1s off the pace - but Barrichello warned his rivals not to read anything into this.

"After all, Ferrari's best lap last year here (at Jerez) was only seventh best, but then we later won in Australia in a big way," he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"We work on old tyres because that's the real objective. That's why we are not worried about being behind with the lap times."

Barrichello added that he thought some other teams were doing low fuel runs in favourable conditions in order to gain attention, giving the example of Felipe Massa's late quick lap on Tuesday. That day saw Massa and the Toyota drivers at the top of the times while the Ferraris ended up ninth and 11th.

"To go faster here isn't difficult," said Barrichello. "Look at Sauber last Tuesday: they were slower than us. Towards the evening they did something and Massa got the fastest lap.

"At the moment Ferrari doesn't want to make the headlines like others do. We know we are slower by some tenths but we are concentrating on a programme and for sure we won't be changing our ways.

"We are confident because we are solving every problem. There is a plan to get to the first grand prix while being able to fight for victory there."

One area where Barrichello admitted his team was struggling was in the single lap performance of the Bridgestone tyres, but he felt this was merely a quirk of the twisty Spanish tracks.

"We have a problem: the first lap on new tyres," he said. "The technicians are evaluating whether it's a problem related to this track and to Valencia, or if it's a general problem - I don't think it is."