Todt: We are still competitive.

Ferrari boss Jean Todt insists that the team's recent results do not fully reflect the overall competitiveness of the team, and that poor grid positions have disguised the real speed of the F2005.

Michael Schumacher had charged up to third in Spain before his retirement with tyre problems that have yet to fully explained by the team or Bridgestone.

"The only thing I know is that he was heavier than the others, and it allowed him to be third when he retired," Todt said after the race in Barcelona. "Unless a specific problem would have happened he would have been fighting to improve the situation. Whether he would have done it or not, I don't know.

"In Bahrain we were very competitive, while we were in the race. In Imola we were very competitive, but we started from too far [back]. Today we were very competitive until we had a problem, and we started again from too far. We are competitive, but at the moment we don't score points, which is no good. It's better not to be competitive and to score maximum points, which will not happen either."

Todt says that the team has not yet given up on this year's World Championship.

"Sure, but it's getting more difficult," he said. "Every race where the others score six, eight, ten points more than you, it makes things more difficult. But it's a long championship, 14 races to go.

"We like winning, but we have got to lose, which is a good combination. If you ask me what I do prefer, then the answer is easy.

"It's up to us. We don't do a good enough job, that's clear."

Todt was also keen to point out that Bridgestone is suffering from a lack of overall testing mileage compared to Michelin.

"Another thing is we are alone fighting with Bridgestone," he said. "Bridgestone is a great partner, because we won more than anybody else with them. But if we have the minimum problem, which is the case at the moment, we end up with eight cars in front of us. Do I complain? It's just what we know."

Todt admitted that Ferrari would like to have another top team on Bridgestone, an idea that rather contradicts the team's earlier philosophy, when it did everything it could to encourage its own special relationship with the tyre supplier.

"We will have nothing against it," he said. "Definitely for testing it would help."

Asked whether he would encourage future engine partner Red Bull to join Bridgestone in 2006, Todt was non-committal: "Let's finish this year. There are still 14 races to go, and then we will see."

Looking ahead to Monaco, Todt said he wasn't unduly concerned about Schumacher's early spot in first qualifying as a result of his Spanish retirement.

"We never complained about that," he said, "and I think it's fair, because we have to decide the order. It's up to us either to have a quicker package, or to finish the race and not find ourselves in this situation. [At Monaco] we need to start in front, have good reliability of tyres, good strategy, and a reliable car."