Ferrari boss tells team to perform

According to the ANSA news agency, he had a meeting with race engineers after the Belgian GP - and told them to provide a car that can do the job.

'If the drivers don't have the car, they can't win,' he said. 'At Spa, they didn't have the car, we all saw that.'

'We have to believe in this championship, so I'm calling now for the fullest possible technical support for the drivers.'

Despite Michael Schumacher's obviously strong influence at Ferrari, team-mate Eddie Irvine insists recent performance lows have not been due to the German's absence.

'It's true we haven't made enough progress recently but it's not because Michael [Schumacher] hasn't been here,' said the Ulsterman, who lost the championship lead at the weekend to Mika Hakkinen.

'We've been standing still while others have made progress. If you stand still in this game you go backwards.

'But, providing we can work really hard during the Monza test, we should come bouncing back.'

In his column for The Express, Irvine claims today that Ferrari was lucky to take fourth place at Spa.

'This was a bonus three points - the car was just not quick enough all weekend and I though we would do well to even get one point.'