Ferrari 'will be closer still' in Canada

Irvine believes that the McLaren is still the faster car, but the Irishman underlined Ferrari's progress when he recently set the fastest lap in a '99-spec car around the team's Fiorano test track.

He was using development tyres from Bridgestone although it is not known if the new rubber will be raced this year.

Irvine set a 1m01.219s, bettering Schumacher's previous best in a F399 by nearly three tenths of a second.

'I found the tyres very good, but the car is getting better and better,' said Irvine. 'There is no big thing that is new, just lots of little things. They all add up to a big improvement.'

He tested for three days at Fiorano and practised starts after both Ferrari's made poor getaways at the Spanish GP last month.

Test driver Luca Badoer also did a day's running at Monza, where he tried out a development version of the team's 048 engine.

'It's a more than pleasing improvement,' he said, 'especially considering the engine is by no means definitive.'

The full evolution version is due for either the French or the British GP and is rumoured to be 14kg lighter and produce an extra 15bhp.