Fresh from its 1-2 victory in France at the weekend, Ferrari played down talk of a "rebirth" but admitted something important had taken place at Magny Cours.

Looking ahead to next weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone, team chief Stefano Domenicali said the squad had shown the "right fighting spirit" after a run of disappointments.

Approaching the midpoint in the season and after three races dominated by McLaren, many pundits had already taken the view that Ferrari's championship aspirations were practically dead.

"Yesterday's Grand Prix shows that the drivers and the team still believe we can win the championship," Domenicali said as the squad left Magny Cours and started focusing on next weekend's Grand Prix at Silverstone.

He said intense pre-race tests in England had been vital in improving the cars' performance. Among the innovations tried and tested were two little wings on the nose of the F2007's which have improved handling and cooling.

The perfect performance by the two Ferrari cars in France gave the impression that technical problems which contributed to upsetting the team's plans were now in the past.

"The cars didn't have even the slightest technical problem," Luca Baldiserri, head of track operations, said proudly Italian newspapers greeted the Ferrari triumph with glee on Monday morning. They Have Returned! Reds Re-open Championship, headlined Gazzetta dello Sport, over a photo of a satisfied-looking Kimi Raikkonen, who scored his second victory with Ferrari on Sunday.

Ferrari Triumph "We've been reborn", chipped in Corriere dello Sport.