Barrichello plays down pace - 10th February 18:54pm GMT

During today's testing in Jerez Rubens Barrichello made some time to talk to the journalists and explain why Ferrari's testing pace hasn't been setting the world on fire in the last couple of weeks.

Mclaren, Renault and Sauber have all topped the time sheets in Valencia and Jerez in the past couple of weeks but Ferrari have always been about 1 second off the pace but Rubens has stated that the times published are not Ferrari's true potential.

“After all, Ferrari's best lap last year here (at Jerez) was only seventh best, but then we later won in Australia in a big way,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“We work on old tyres because that's the real objective. That's why we are not worried about being behind with the lap times.”

Barrichello also stated that the times set by various teams recently aren't a true reflection of a 'race pace'.

"To go faster here isn't difficult,” said Barrichello. “Look at Sauber last Tuesday: they were slower than us. Towards the evening they did something and Massa got the fastest lap.

“At the moment Ferrari doesn't want to make the headlines like others do. We know we are slower by some tenths but we are concentrating on a programme and for sure we won't be changing our ways.

"We are confident because we are solving every problem. There is a plan to get to the first grand prix while being able to fight for victory there."

But not all things are rosy in the Ferrari camp as Rubens explains: "We have a problem: the first lap on new tyres,” he said. “The technicians are evaluating whether it's a problem related to this track and to Valencia, or if it's a general problem - I don't think it is.”