Ferrari on Monday dismissed lingering suspicions that it secretly saw Brazilian driver Felipe Massa as less likely than team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to win the world champion's title in 2007.
Discussing Massa's convincing triumph in Bahrain on Sunday, top team officials paid tribute to his character as a fighter and said he had "grown" considerably after his botched race in Malaysia a week before.
"After a horrible week of being massacred (by the press), it's only fair to recognise that Felipe reacted well and drove a great race," Ferrari team chief Stefano Domenicali said.
Massa, 25, notched up a near perfect weekend in Bahrain. He won pole, started well, clocked the fastest lap in the race and held off the persistent challenge from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton before seeing the chequered flag.
"He didn't make a single mistake. He showed he's up to it," Domenicali added.
Massa's win on Sunday was only the third of his career, both his previous ones coming last year as he raced alongside the now retired Michael Schumacher.
The more experienced Raikkonen, 27, who joined Ferrari this year and won on his debut in Melbourne, has notched up ten wins in his career and was considered unlucky not be crowned world champion in 2005.
There was a feeling in the Italian media that Ferrari saw the Finnish 'Ice Man' as stepping into Schumacher's shoes when he arrived the year after the seven-times world champ retired.
NO PREFERENCE.
But Mario Almondo, Ferrari's technical director, firmly denied this. "Our drivers are equivalent. They are both capable of winning all the races if we give them the tools to do it".
Almondo said the team had no preference for which driver it wanted on the winner's rostrum. "The important thing is that there's a Ferrari up front," he said.
Looking back on the race in Bahrain, the Ferrari team admitted that Raikkonen had thrown away his chances of challenging for second by allowing himself to be overtaken at the start.
Technicians also admitted that, compared to the McLaren cars, the Ferrari had a slight disadvantage when it came to starting. "We don't like having this sort of handicap, if you can call it that. We're trying to sort it out quickly".
Even with his bad start, Raikkonen finished third and currently stands joint first in the championship standings with McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
Massa, who failed to make the podium in the first two races, is five points behind.
Having the two Ferrari drivers and the two McLaren drivers so close together after three races is an indication of the sort of championship ahead in 2007, Domenicali said.
"This championship will be decided in the last race. It's going to be a question of who makes fewer mistakes and who develops the cars better. We have to keep improving, because our adversaries certainly will".
