No Let Up as Dominant Ferrari Get Back on Track

Formula One champions Ferrari put their Spanish success behind them on Tuesday and began a week of intensive testing at three Italian circuits.

Brazilian test driver Luciano Burti was first out in the old F2001 at Monza, completing 18 laps before running wide and hitting the barriers in what the team described as a minor incident.

Italian Luca Badoer also began testing at the team's Fiorano circuit near the Maranello factory, while Brazilian Rubens Barrichello will spend Thursday and Friday at the Mugello circuit south of Bologna.

The next race, the sixth of the season, is in Austria on May 12. Ferrari and Michael Schumacher lead both the drivers' and manufacturers' championships after dominating Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix from start to finish.

"We need to test, everybody's testing," Ferrari's sporting director Jean Todt said.

Four times World Champion Schumacher, now 21 points clear of Williams' Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya in the standings, has won four of the year's five races and ran unchallenged at the Circuit de Catalunya from pole position.

"It is impressive," agreed Todt. "Everything came together to make us extremely competitive. In one Grand Prix out of 17, it is the ultimate machine. We've already had four in which things have gone relatively well but there are still another 12 to go and we will judge it at the end of the season."