Briatore: Bring On the New Ferrari

"I hope Ferrari are introducing their car as early as possible," he told Reuters after Spaniard Fernando Alonso put Renault on provisional pole at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday.

"In this job, whenever you do it with no rationality it is trouble. If Ferrari was planning to have their car in Spain and is launching it in Bahrain then I think it is good for us because they are rushing it."

Ferrari have fielded a revised version of their dominant 2004 car so far and had planned to introduce the new one for the fifth round in Spain in May. However technical director Ross Brawn said they could decide to take it to the next race in Bahrain if they felt it would make a difference.

Renault won the Australian season-opener on March 6 with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella while Ferrari's seven times Champion Michael Schumacher failed to finish.

Schumacher, winner of 13 of the 18 races last year, faces another hard struggle in Sunday's second round of the Championship after first qualifying left him in 12th place and Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello in 14th. Schumacher and Barrichello will try the new car out for the first time next week when a decision will be made.

Briatore said the Renault looked competitive in all conditions and did not appear at all concerned about the appearance of a quicker Ferrari.

"I worry about everybody because you need to respect every competitor in Formula One," he said. "We've done nothing so far. We've won a race, that's what we've done. For the moment we've done absolutely nothing. There are 19 races."

He also shrugged off Brawn's warning that, based on testing figures, the new Ferrari was expected to be a second quicker than the old one.

"Fantastic," said Briatore. "I think before we arrive in Bahrain our car will be one second quicker in the development."