Autosport Plus

MPH: Mark Hughes on...

With Ferrari aiming to pull out of its 2009 slump, there remains a fascinating conundrum: will it be new boy Fernando Alonso or technical continuity that will best help the Scuderia?

Amid all the pre-season excitement of Schumacher's return and Lewis and Jenson being paired together at McLaren, one especially intriguing prospect seems to have been largely overlooked - that of Ferrari.

Will 2009's mediocrity be shown to be a mere blip in the team's outstanding performances since 1997, accountable purely to the ambiguity in the technical regulations at the F60's conception? A compromising external factor outside the team's control - much as was the case in 2005 with the late-notice banning of tyre changes? Or was it the beginning of the 'inevitable' downwards slide in the post-Brawn/Schuey era?