Badoer: Ferrari Hurt by Testing Ban

The chances of Michael Schumacher winning a record breaking sixth World Championship this year have been hampered by the summer testing break, Ferrari's test driver Luca Badoer has said.

Ferrari have been caught up by rivals Williams-BMW in the past six races and they are now just two points ahead in the Constructors' Championship with Schumacher only six ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya in the drivers' standings.

The development of their car for the final races of the season have been stopped by an official six-week testing ban from the sport's governing body, the FIA, and Badoer believes the Maranello-based outfit have been hurt by the restriction.

"The testing ban has come at the wrong time," said Badoer. "We would like to test and we have a lot of things to try, including evaluating tyres in order to move forward but we cannot."

Badoer could manage only a 35-kilometre shakedown test for the team this week to ensure their cars were prepared for Schumacher and teammate Rubens Barrichello ahead of next weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Italian giants claimed to have stepped up their game through a major test prior to the testing ban, however, and Badoer is hopeful that the fact their rivals have not tested either means they could be competitive at the Hungaroring.

"The situation is the same for all the teams," said Badoer. "After Hungary, we will test in Monza and at that time we will test all the developments lined up over the past months."

Williams, and Montoya in particular, are currently enjoying the momentum created by regular podium finishes in the middle of the season after struggling to get to grips with their car in the opening rounds.

Ferrari, on the other hand, saw German Schumacher finish only seventh at the last race in Germany and he also failed to get on the podium at the British Grand Prix despite Barrichello coming home to win.