Clearly given a huge injection of cockiness following his team's impressive performance in Malaysia, Ralf Schumacher has wasted no timer in hitting out at Ferrari, the team with which his brother has won five successive titles.

Talking to German newspaper Bild, the Toyota star hit out at the Italian team for having the temerity to start the 2005 season with an 'old' car, albeit a car which won 15 races in 2004.

"How can they be so arrogant as to start the season with the old car?" he said. "

"On top of that, they're going it alone with their own tyre contract," he added, for good measure.

In the past Ralf has never held back when it comes to taking a dig at rival teams, and on leaving WilliamsF1 took a number of pot shots at the outfit that paid him handsomely for several years.

What is so ironic about Ralf's comment however is that he is driving for a team which, according to many F1 insiders, also started a Formula One season with an 'old car'.

Albeit that of a rival team, namely Ferrari.