Ferrari has leg up on rivals again

Rumor has it that Ferrari is ahead of all its rivals in development of their 2.4-liter V8 engine that is mandated for F1 starting in 2006. Ferrari team manager Stefano Domenicalli has already confessed that the team's V8 engine has been running for “quite some time on the dyno and will soon see its test debut in a car at Fiorano." With Ferrari's closest rivals having only just decided to abandon an arbitration action against the FIA over the switch to V8 engines, the pressure is now on Mercedes-Benz, Honda and BMW to catch up on its development plans.

BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen said, “The change of concept creates quite some pressure and higher costs," he said. “We have to compress the development program. But I cannot state yet a time for the first test on the dyno. I am sure however that the team which has supposedly built the best grand prix engine during the last couple of years will also master this new task."