22.03.2004 'It would not be fair to be unhappy when you bring home 15 points out of 18 in the race, and 33 out of 36 in the championship so far' JEAN TODT REFLECTS ON MALAYSIA

'It would not be fair to be unhappy when you bring home 15 points out of 18 in the race, and 33 out of 36 in the championship so far,' admitted Ferrari team principal Jean Todt after Sunday’s first and fourth positions in the Malaysian Grand Prix. 'We can be very pleased about the whole situation so far.'

After finishing first and second at the Australian Grand Prix two weeks before, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello came home first and fourth under cloudy skies but in thirty degree heat on the Sepang circuit outside Kuala Lumpur, generally acknowledged to be the toughest race of the year in terms of heat.

And Todt was quick to pay tribute to Ferrari tyre suppliers Bridgestone, whose products, it is often considered, are less efficient in extreme heat than the Michelins supplied to Ferrari’s rivals. 'Bridgestone has done an outstanding job,' said Todt. 'They are silent, efficient and great people.'

Todt admitted that he was wary of pre-race tittle-tattle. 'I am always very cautious about predictions. There is much speculation, but it is a very rewarding, very encouraging, to see the car is great and we have good reliability.' But he also pointed out that the team was unsure of Bridgestone’s performance prior to the race. 'We did not have enough information to figure how it would be,' he said, adding that one of his regrets in the race was that Barrichello suffered in the early stages and could only finish fourth. 'He lost a few important places when the track was a bit more slippery.'

Todt is fully aware that Michael Schumacher had a much tougher race in Sepang than in Melbourne two weeks earlier, pushed this time by Juan Pablo Montoya’s Williams-BMW. He reckons that the championship 'will be close but hopefully we can maintain our advantage.'

Ferrari’s policy is to analyse the past and plan for the future. They don’t rest on their laurels, he said. 'The spirit of the team is to try and look forwards and to see how we can progress, where we did not do well enough, where we can be better, rather than focusing on the success we are having. We are more focused about what we have to do to improve the situation.'

Todt admitted that Michael Schumacher’s performances no longer really surprise him. 'I know him so well, I know his focus, I know what he loves and I know the way he is so I would be surprised if he didn’t perform, not when he does.

But Todt was not to be drawn on the subject of one of Ferrari’s rivals, Williams-BMW, running a car at the official opening of the Bahrain track, scene of the next round of the championship. No one has run at the circuit except for Williams, who were asked to attend the opening by Formula One supreme Bernie Ecclestone. Asked if he was worried that a Michelin-shod car had run there, Todt would only say 'I am not going to get into that. Guess what our competitors would have said if we had done the same….'