Todt: We had 1-2 potential.

Ferrari team boss Jean Todt has admitted that there were plenty of mixed emotions in the garage after Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix, with delight at Felipe Massa's maiden Formula One win coupled with the realisation that the result was not ideal for the drivers' championship battle.

Massa led from the front throughout the race, having taken his first pole position in the top flight on Saturday, but Todt admitted that Michael Schumacher being restricted to third place was not the script he had expected to read.

"We were obviously very pleased about the first pole position and the first win for Felipe with Scuderia Ferrari, and he drove a great race, but we are obviously a bit disappointed because we had the potential that could have allowed us to be first and second," the Frenchman insisted, ""The safety car probably made our race more difficult, and it did not help Michael. We had the potential to be first and second, but we finished first and third."

Despite admitting that seeing Schumacher concede two points to title rival Fernando Alonso had made the remaining four races tougher, Todt defended the decision to pit the German at the same time as Massa during the safety car period - even though the tactic cost Schumacher eleven seconds and allowed Alonso and Renault to move from third place to second.

"When the safety car is on the track, you cannot overtake. You just cannot do it; overtaking with the safety car is forbidden," he stressed, "I think there would be five times more people at this press conference if I had asked Felipe to let Michael through. That would have been the event of the race weekend!"

With four races to go, however, there was some good news from Turkey in the shape of a much-reduced deficit in the constructors' championship battle with Renault.

"The race allowed us to get closer because we are now minus two points, and we were minus seven," he confirmed, "We had a demonstration [this weekend] that our car was very quick - first row, first and second quickest time during the race, and we had very strong Bridgestone tyres - so I am convinced that we still have a chance to fight for both championships.

"It will depend what the others will do as development, and what the tyre situation will be. We know we have a good development programme, but we don't know the development programme for the others. We know we have new tyres to test, new compounds and new constructions, but I don't know what the others will have to test, so only time will tell."