Villeneuve Makes His Point plus Three Points for Sauber

Considering that Schumacher only just missed out on victory from thirteenth place on the grid, was reason enough for his optimism.

"Even I was surprised at how fast I was able to overtake Jenson. If I had been able to get past him sooner I might have had an even better chance of winning." (Photo: Ferrari)

"It is always great seeing how Ferrari reacts in difficult situations," Schumacher added. "They remain calm and concentrate on the important things without ever compromising the creativity. They work as hard as ever. What the team has managed to achieve in three weeks is surprising. They have all worked day and night. This is how the result at Imola was obtained. I would like to thank each and every one of them and I am pleased that I was able to pay them back with a good performance. Now though, we should not relax. I hope to claim our first win soon."

Of course, the very fact that Ferrari worked day and night testing the F2004M has other teams, which joined in a gentleman's agreement to limit in-season testing to 30 days in order to save costs, up in arms. Ferrari, not knowing prior to the 2005 season opener that they would be up against the ropes and needing to do whatever it would take to alleviate their dire circumstances and elevate their 2005 season standings, opted out of the pre-season agreement and have tested non-stop at their private facilities.

"Frankly I'm glad Alonso won because if Ferrari had won it would have been a hollow victory and I would have felt very sorry for Renault," commented BAR-Honda team boss Nick

"Ferrari undoubtedly will start winning because you cannot test in the way they test with their resources and not benefit versus the rest of us." (Photo: Auto Sport Press)

Fry. "It would have been fairly un-sportsmanlike in some ways had Ferrari reveled in a victory when we have handicapped ourselves deliberately by (limiting testing) to keep costs down. Ferrari are flaunting that and this is the result."

"BAR have done more testing than any other team, but Ferrari have done 85 percent more miles than we have by totally ignoring the gentleman's agreement between the teams and putting themselves in a better position," added the BAR team chief. "Ferrari undoubtedly will start winning because you cannot test in the way they test with their resources and not benefit versus the rest of us. It was inevitable they would come back."