Barrichello: Things Can't Get any Worse

The Italian outfit suffered one of their most uncompetitive performances of the year in last weekend's Turkish Grand Prix and they will be desperate not to suffer a repeat at the next race on home ground in Italy.

Barrichello has been drafted in for an exclusive first day of testing, to work alongside his 2006 replacement Felipe Massa, in a bid to turn things around. And he is making no secret of the fact that the focus will obviously be on tyres.

"It's difficult to say what's exactly the problem but we've talked about it plenty of times," said Barrichello, looking back on the poor performance in Istanbul. "The tyres we brought there were far too hard for this track.

"It's not Bridgestone or Ferrari's fault; it's a consequence of the rules, as you have to choose two types of tyres to take to a track that is unknown to you, so these things can happen.

"After a good weekend for Michael [Schumacher] in Hungary, we saw the car was quick, but here we were completely out of the fight; we were too slow. We need to understand, test and I'll be testing in Monza for one day to help the team improve the situation and go quicker in the next few races. Worst than this it won't get!"

Barrichello is hopeful that the high-speed characteristics of Monza will not punish the team's problems with their car and tyres as much as Turkey did.

"We need a lot of straight-line speed, but the grid will be very compact," he said. "The tyre is not as important there than Turkey, it's more the brakes and traction."

And Ferrari's strong form at the Canadian Grand Prix earlier this year, which demands similar strengths from cars and tyres, should act as a good omen for the Italian Grand Prix.

"There we had a very good tyre choice and everything went well, but that doesn't mean it will be the same in Monza," added Barrichello. "But we should be quick there."