Briatore: Schumacher is Beatable

Michael Schumacher's former boss Flavio Briatore believes the World Champion will lose out with the new Formula One rules - but warned he will continue to dominate the sport until they come into force at the British Grand Prix.

Flamboyant Italian Briatore, whose current team Renault started testing their new car at Paul Ricard in France today, masterminded Schumacher's first two titles at Benetton in the mid-1990s.

He believes the five-times World Champion does crack under pressure - and the removal of electronic driver aids at Silverstone in July will let his rivals force him into mistakes.

"Michael is beatable if he has pressure put on him," said Briatore. "We've seen this in the past with Jacques Villeneuve and Mika Hakkinen and now Juan Pablo Montoya - but the current technical regulations make it impossible to beat him."

Renault technical director Mike Gascoyne, however, disagreed with his boss and warned that the changes will not make any significant difference to the current running order of Formula One.

Ferrari led the field when driver aids were brought in at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2001, and Gascoyne said: "Think back to just before that race and ask was it different then? I think not."

Briatore, however, says the cull of electric driver aids is a step in the right direction to improving the action on the track and questioned why the changes were not made some years ago.

"I've been telling them for five years they need to spend less money and get back to racing and make it more exciting," he added. "This is what the people understand."