Ferrari confident over new car

"We know where we made mistakes last year and we know how to resolve them," Ferrari's Spanish test driver Marc Gene told a news conference at the team's winter retreat in the Dolomite mountains on Wednesday.

"We didn't adapt well to the new rules. It is down to rule interpretation," he added.

"There is a lot of confidence for 2006 and in fact we are a bit ahead of where we expected to be although there is still work to do."

Ferrari's seven-times World Champion Michael Schumacher managed just one hollow win, at the six-car U.S. Grand Prix, during what was a deeply disappointing campaign last year.

The two major changes which have been forced on Ferrari by new rules regard the engine, which will be a V8 rather than a V10, and the liberalisation of restrictions on pitstops for tyre changes.

Bridgestone-equipped Ferrari, who dominated in 2004 when tyre changes were last allowed, suffered last season when tyres had to last for the entire race rather than short sprints.

Brazilian driver Felipe Massa believes the new rules will help them.

"Everyone knows we had a difficult year with tyres but there has been an improvement and there are more improvements to come," he said.

"The tyre rule change will help us. There have not been many rules in recent years that have helped us but this one does," he said.

Gene said the V8 engine seemed weak at low revs on the first lap in practice but did not think the switch would make much impact on the sport.

"I don't think it will force people to change their driving style and I don't think that fans will notice a difference," he said.