This weekend's Spanish Grand Prix should give a clear indication whether or not reigning champions Ferrari will be the car to beat, sources at the Italian team said.
''We have come to Spain with every reason to be optimistic, after wins in Malaysia and Bahrain. However, our rivals have not been twiddling their thumbs, so we can expect a tough fight for which we will need maximum concentration at every stage of the weekend,'' team principal Stefano Domenicali said ahead of Sunday's race.
After a poor start in the season opener in Australia, where world champion Kimi Raikkonen picked up only one point and teammate Felipe Massa dropped out due to mechanical problems, Ferrari won the next two races, first with Raikkonen and then with Massa.
This has allowed Raikkonen to take the lead in the drivers' standings, having come in second in Bahrain, while Ferrari is only one point behind leader BMW in the constructors' championship.
Massa's win in Bahrain was a shot in the arm for the Brazilian driver, who had failed to finish in the two previous races, and helped fuel some in-house rivalry with his Finnish teammate.
Massa also got a boost this week from Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo who said the Italian team was not interested in signing up two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.
Speculation that Ferrari was interested in the Spanish driver arose after Massa's poor season start and the problems Renault is having to give the Spaniard a competitive car.
''Putting together a Raikkonen-Alonso line up would be self-destructive. I want two drivers who work together,'' Montezemolo told an Italian newspaper.
The Ferrari boss then reminded both Raikkonen and Massa that they worked for the team and not themselves.
''All I'm interested in is that Ferrari wins. If they want to race for themselves, they'd better have their own team. But as long as they're at Ferrari, they will be driving for Ferrari. And so far they have been very correct about this,'' Montezemolo said.
Speaking ahead of the race weekend, Raikkonen, who won the Spanish Grand Prix in 2005, admitted it was a good feeling to open the 'European season' on top and said he hoped to extend his lead with a victory on Sunday.
''It's going to be a close race. Everyone has made improvements in view of the first European race and this is sure to make it more interesting. We won the last two races, so our rivals will be out to get us,'' Raikkonen added.
From a more technical point of view, the world champion observed that at the Spanish track ''the set-up is really crucial because the circuit can change depending on winds and temperatures''.
Massa agreed that Sunday will be a difficult race, ''even if I think we can be very competitive if we do our best at all times''.
''Last year I won here what was, to be honest, an amazing race which I will never forget. I was very close to Alonso in qualifying and he was extremely determined to win on his home turf,'' Massa recalled.
''I had an excellent start and maintained the advantage through the first corner, where Alonso tried everything he knew to pass me. That start was his only chance to get by and we had a bit of a moment next to each other on the first corner. But I had the inside line and managed to stay in front, after which it was not so difficult to control the pace,'' he added.
