Ferrari missing Schu, Brawn

(GMM) Ferrari's current performance slump proves that the Italian team is missing Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher.

That is the advice of former Ferrari driver and triple world champion Niki Lauda, who said the Maranello based team enjoyed a good start to 2007 because of its existing relationship with monopoly tire supplier Bridgestone.

"That is my impression," the Austrian legend, who now commentates for German television, told Auto Motor und Sport.

Lauda added: "But now McLaren has caught up with a better car. Honestly, I do not see the factors with which Ferrari can come back now.

"It was always clear that, sooner or later, they would start to really miss the absent guys like Brawn and Schumacher."