Ferrari at a Loss to Explain Form

After appearing to be back in the hunt for the World Championship after the two North American races, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello have struggled to match the pace of the front-runners in the last two events and their title chances seem to be slipping away.

And although Todt is adamant that the team are not going to give up on their Championship hopes, he fears they may not be able to make a recovery because they do not know what their current problems are caused by.

"We mainly lack grip," he said after the British Grand Prix. "It's very difficult to judge clearly for us where it comes from. It's not just the aerodynamics, because if it was only the aerodynamics, we would never be able to do a quick time, like we did on Friday.

"Then we are with the others, same level of fuel, and we are at the same speed. And then we dropped back. But for the other teams, it's easier to identify where the problem is, because there are several teams in the same situation.

"With all respect to Jordan and Minardi, it's very difficult for us to have a good comparison with them. So for that reason, it's up to us, together with Bridgestone to try to get the best analysis as possible."

Speaking about whether he believed the team would be able to recover in time to keep Schumacher in the hunt for the title, Todt said :"I don't know. I don't have all the parameters in hand, so it's possible but very difficult.

"We have to analyse, Bridgestone have to analyse. We need to see how to react and what can be done. I cannot tell you if it's possible or not within a very short time. But it's a new challenge for sure.

"Then again I've been in much more difficult situations: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, so all of those and part of 1999; all those were more difficult."