Sunday's Result was Not a Defeat, Claims Todt

Despite finishing in a distant second position at Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix, Ferrari's sporting director Jean Todt considers the result was not a defeat for the Italian team.

Williams' Ralf Schumacher scored a dominant second career win at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit yesterday, clearly outperforming his elder brother Michael at the wheel of the Ferrari. However, after being able to extend their lead both in the drivers' and constructors' championship, Todt admitted he was pleased with the result.

"I do not feel that yesterday's result was a defeat", Todt told ANSA. "Michael has scored an average of 7.25 points per race. As a team, our average is 10.25 points. How can I consider yesterday's race a defeat?"

Todt also claimed his team were conservative during the race after seeing McLaren's David Coulthard - Schumacher's main rival in the title race - being forced to retire with a mechanical failure. Todt admitted the BMW-Williams superiority in Canada, but was glad to finish ahead of their McLaren rivals.

"We did not try to win at any cost, we were thinking about the championship," the Frenchman added after seening Michael finishing 20 seconds behind Ralf. "From this point of view it was a good Sunday. Schumi is now 18 points ahead of Coulthard and we are 34 ahead of McLaren.

"We had already seen it at Imola. Yesterday, their (Williams') driver-car-engine-tyres package was the best. But that didn't change anything, we were still ahead of the McLarens."