Despite last Sunday's disastrous debut in the Formula 1's season opener, Ferrari is confident it will do well in this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix here.
Speaking ahead of Sunday's race, Ferrari's world champion driver Kimi Raikkonen said that ''we'll know how strong we are when we go on the track for the practices, but I think we'll make up the ground we lost''.
''The car is ready. Our technicians have worked hard to figure out what went wrong and correct the problem. It's now up to us to show what we can do,'' the Finn added.
Raikkonen admitted that he made several mistakes in Australia ''but this can happen in racing. The season is a long one and there are still 17 Grand Prix left to go''.
Both Raikkonen and teammate Felipe Massa were forced to drop out of last Sunday's Australian Grand Prix. This was the first time since the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix that Ferrari lost both cars due to engine failure.
The motors were flown back to Ferrari headquarters in Maranello where they were 'dissected' to determine what went wrong.
On Thursday Ferrari issued a statement saying that the problem was caused by the car's fuel and high temperatures which caused intake valves to snap.
However, Ferrari added that this was not due to the quality of fuel nor it causing the engine to overheat.
''There was a mistake in mapping the motor. We've corrected the problem for the next race. We're convinced we identified the problem,'' said team manager Luca Baldisserri.
''Our confidence is the same as before and we are sure the car will do well. In Melbourne there was just a string of coincidences which can happen,'' he added.
Massa was also convinced that Malaysia will be a different story from Melbourne and recalled that ''last year I took pole, even if I only came in fifth in the end''.
''I'm confident and convinced that we'll do well on Sunday. Personally, I intend to try and repeat my performance in qualifying last year,'' the Brazilian added.
Responding to rumors that Ferrari was looking for a driver to replace him, Massa recalled that ''I have a contract which expires in 2010. Nevertheless, anything in a team can be changed. I don't feel I have any problems. I wasn't nervous in Australia''.
