22/03/2005
NEWS STORY
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With Jean Todt admitting that a decision as to whether the new Ferrari F2005 will be used in Bahrain must be made by Wednesday (23) at the latest, Ferrari has less than 48-hours to decide whether the time is right to introduce the car which Ross Brawn previously described as the team's "best ever".
Rubens Barrichello will have his first experience of the F2005 today, when he begins testing at Mugello, while Michael Schumacher is not expected to drive the car until Wednesday, after which the decision should be made.
Speaking on Friday, Brawn said that he believed the difference between the F2005 and the F2004M is "between a half and one second", however, thus far, test driver Luca Badoer is the only man to have run the car.
At a time when nine of the F1 teams are demanding the Ferrari reduces its test programme, the Italian team will be working flat-out in order that it can make the correct decision, and then develop the car.
This is definitely crunch time for the Maranello outfit.