Todt Says No Need to Panic after Defeat

Ferrari boss Jean Todt said there was no need to panic after his team's bad start to the 2003 Formula One season today.

Despite qualifying both cars on the front row of the grid for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, the sport's most recognisable team failed to figure in the first three placings with Michael Schumacher finishing fourth and Rubens Barrichello crashing.

It was the first time since 1999 that a Ferrari driver had not made the podium but Todt, Ferrari's director of sport, said that was not a cause for concern.

"We know this will be a very tough season but we also know we have all the right elements in place to be able to fight for success," Todt said. "Now we must attack once more."

Todt said the team's unexpected failure was partly a result of the new rules that were introduced this season to stop their domination of Formula One but also because they did not react quickly enough to the changing conditions.

"It was a very strange race and not really because of the new rules," he said.

"The weather at the start and in the early stages, which saw some drivers running wet tyres and others on dry ones, the Safety Car appearing twice and the different strategies, were all factors which made the race hard to read and different to usual.

"Five points is not exactly a great tally given that we started with an all-red front row but the result shows that the slightest mistake results in a heavy penalty."

Ferrari, winners of the last four Constructors' Championships, raced last year's model at the Australian Grand Prix but plan to use their new car next month.

Sunday's Australian race winner, McLaren driver David Coulthard, said Ferrari had made a rare mistake with their strategy in Melbourne but were still the team to beat, particularly once they roll out their new car.

"I don't think any of us are going to presume that Ferrari are suddenly not competitive," the Scot said. "Clearly they are, but on this day in history they didn't have the right strategy."