The Formula One season kicks off at the weekend with the Australian Grand Prix and Ferrari has no doubts that it will be a top contender for the drivers' and constructors' titles.
''We have the best drivers in Formula 1: in 2007 we won with (Kimi) Raikkonen and in 2008 (Felipe) Massa almost nabbed the title. I have great confidence in Ferrari,'' Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said in an interview published in Rome's La Repubblica daily.
Looking ahead to the new season, Montezemolo said ''we're ready, I don't know if we'll win but we are as competitive as always''.
Ferrari in 2008 won the constructors' championship, its eighth title in ten years, and almost clinched the drivers' title with Massa, who won the final Brazilian Grand Prix and was world champion for a handful of seconds from when he crossed the finish line until McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, in the last corners, moved up into fifth place and took the drivers' championship by one point.
Massa has put last season well behind him and at the press conference here which opened the race weekend said ''what happened last year is finished. Everybody starts from zero now. We are all in the same position. At Ferrari we need to take everything we learned in the past and we need to work very hard because the championship is long''.
''I hope our car is as competitive as last year and maybe a bit more reliable. But we've worked very hard on improving in the areas we needed to improve on,'' he added.
Looking at his competition, Massa observed that ''there's not just going to be Hamilton out there to beat. Many teams and drivers have done very well in winter tests, but races are something different''.
Raikkonen arrived in Australia with the goal of returning to his form of the 2007 season, which allowed him to win his first title.
''I think I've learned from my mistakes. This new season is going to be different.
FERRARI JOINS DIFFUSER PROTEST.
In regard of the controversial diffuser which the Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams teams have adopted, Massa said ''I think the matter needs to be cleared up 100%. Right now we don't know if they are illegal or not and will have to wait and see what (the international racing federation) FIA decides''.
Ferrari on Thursday joined Renault and Red Bull in lodging a formal complaint with race stewards over the diffusers but the stewards later gave their green light for their use.
Nevertheless, a protest is now expected to be lodged with FIA and it may take several weeks before the racing federation FIA rules on the dispute.
The diffuser is a kind of wind spoiler located behind the rear axel which FIA this year ordered be reduced in size and placed more rearward.
This was part of a package of aerodynamic changes aimed at reducing downforce by as much as 50% in order to increase the possibility of overtaking.
Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams were accused to have bent the rules too far by designing a double-decker diffuser which has given their cars extra speed in tests.
