Ferrari expect to rebound at Spa

A fortnight after taking a comfortable one-two finish in the Turkish GP, Ferrari were no match for title rivals McLaren in their home race last weekend. Felipe Massa retired, while Kimi Raikkonen could only finish third behind Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

The advantage has swung between the two dominant teams all season, and Ferrari's chief designer Nikolas Tombazis believes Spa's characteristics should play to his car's strengths.

"Generally speaking, Spa is the type of circuit where the performance difference between the cars gets amplified," Tombazis said.

"Compared to the circuits where we have been quite strong, Spa has actually got a lower level of downforce, so cars have higher top speeds with less downforce.

"But nonetheless, in common with the tracks that appear to have suited us, Spa also has some very high speed corners, which do stress the tyres quite a lot and that, for us is a positive aspect. Furthermore, with long straights there is also a high emphasis on engine power here.

"I think all in all, I am hopeful we can be quite competitive here with the F2007."

Ferrari were fastest on two of the three days of testing held at Spa in July, but Tombazis thinks the picture could have changed since then.

"We were looking not too bad when we had our first ever Spa test session back in July," he said.

"However, the cars have evolved since then and therefore it's difficult to know exactly which of two teams - ourselves and our nearest rivals - has made the most progress since then. But I am reasonably optimistic."