Ferrari needed more time, says Todt

Ferrari needed another two weeks to be fully-prepared for the defence of its drivers' and constructors' world titles - that's the opinion of team principal Jean Todt on the eve of the Australian Grand Prix

This weekend's Melbourne race gets the season underway with question marks remaining over the reliability of Ferrari's F2001 and the MP4-16 of arch-rivals McLaren, and Todt says he would have preferred a little extra time to be fully race-ready.

"There is still lots to do," he said, "but the championship is upon us. We like the car, but I would have preferred to see the first race two weeks later. That would have given us more time."

Rubens Barrichello smashed the lap record at Mugello with the F2001, his 1m22.139s lap taking more than a second off the previous benchmark, set by Sauber's Nick Heidfeld. But World Champion Michael Schumacher has seen his running hampered by a series of niggling gearbox problems, although the German was keen to play these down.

"We were hoping to have done 2500 miles by now," he said, "and that's what we've done. The gearbox that broke had already done a lot of mileage, so I'm not too concerned."

McLaren's final week of testing in Barcelona also proved problem-filled, with engine and gearbox faults preventing either Mika Hakkinen or David Coulthard from completing a race distance in the fast, but so far fragile MP4-16. McLaren has not recorded a finish in the Australian GP for the last two years.