Ferrari in a bind over car development

The Italian manufacturer are locked in a tight title battle with rivals McLaren, so cannot afford to ease off in improving their F2007. But they also admit that work must progress on next year's car if they are not to compromise their performance.

Aldo Costa, the head of Ferrari's chassis department, said: "The balance is very difficult to achieve, to be honest, because we are still fighting for the championship.

"There is a very long lead time of preparation for 2008 and it has to start. So it is a very tough period. We are still working on this car, pushing the development, but the 2008 car has to be seriously considered."

Costa said that next year's Ferrari will likely be launched in early January. And despite relatively stable regulations, the new standard ECU could mean fundamental design characteristics.

"Next year's car will appear again at the beginning of January, but we still have to decide when," explained Costa.

"We will benefit from having the same rules for tyres and aerodynamics, so we will go in this respect towards a stable year.

"The unknown thing will be the MES electronic system which is pushing us to find a different compromise for the general car development, as there will not be any more driver aids.

"On the reliability side it will be again quite a good challenge for the gearbox because it has to last for four races.

"And there is of course a material limitation in the composite area, so there is a lot of thinking about that.

"So it is quite a busy winter and also, as I said before, a tough summer to work on two cars - this year's car and next year's car."