Ferrari Consider Using Old Car in Australia

The dominant Ferrari team are preparing to use their old car to take on their rivals in the opening Grands Prix of next season after making last-minute modifications to improve their 2003 machine.

Ferrari, who used a similar tactic at the start of last year, are set to take their all-conquering F2002 cars to Australia because they do not have time to ensure the new machines are reliable enough to last the distance.

The Italian team demolished the opposition last season, winning all but two of the 17 races and scoring as many points as the rest of the field grouped together. But they have found it difficult to improve on perfection this year and technical boss Ross Brawn admitted: "Taking the old car to Australia is definitely a possibility.

"There were some decisions made late to make sure we have made an improvement on the 2002 car - because there is no point in having a new car unless it is better than the old one. Obviously, after having such a good car last year we have to make sure the new car is better and there were some aspects of the car that we had to take time on to ensure they were better than what we already have."

World Champion Michael Schumacher has spent the winter months relaxing with his family and training at home while his rivals have already been out on track with modified machines in an effort to catch up.

The new Ferrari F2003 will be launched in February and the team will only decide to race the new machine when they are satisfied it has been tested enough to complete a full race distance.

"We have the same philosophy for this year (2003) as we had from 2001 into 2002 and we are preparing to take the 2002 car to the first few races so we will have both options available," Brawn told ITV.