Todt says Ferrari got tyre choice wrong

A lack of pace from their choice of tyres left Schumacher unable to qualify in the top ten, and his pace was not quick enough in the race to match the cars ahead of him.

He locked up several times as he pushed hard to make-up for the deficit before eventually crashing out at the final corner after running wide across the kerbs.

Todt said the team had taken the conservative option in not going with the new cold-weather Bridgestone that had been brought to Australia, and that may have proved crucial in explaining their pace in the relatively cool qualifying and race.

"We had this problem several times last year and our major problem was warming up the tyres," he explained.

"Saying that, we had another specification of tyres available which was used by our competitors using Bridgestone tyres - and they definitely had a better warm-up. So it was up to us."

Ferrari had hoped to evaluate the new tyre for the first time on Saturday morning practice, because the track conditions would have been more rubbered in than on Friday, but those plans were scuppered by rain.

"We only used one specification of tyre on Friday, thinking we would do the job when the track would have been less green on Saturday. Unfortunately, we couldn't do it. You always learn.

"We were not expecting such cool temperatures and we definitely didn't have enough information to make a good comparison."

Todt drew encouragement from the fact that Schumacher was able to lap at the same speed as the front-runners during times of the race when the tyres were up to their correct operating temperature.

"When everything is working together, we have good potential. Unfortunately we couldn't express it properly."

Ferrari are planning a major upgrade of their aerodynamics, suspension and engine for the San Marino Grand Prix, where the team are expected to have an advantage with their tyres.

Todt said he was hopeful about the team's chances there, but refused to believe that they could automatically expect to be favourites.

"I think that we can be competitive. How competitive is difficult to know. It all depends what the others will do. We will have a good upgrade but we will not be the only one and I hope we manage to put everything together."