Ferrari find their stride for Barcelona

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Ferrari have never had a problem mustering confidence, but the signs for their competitors heading into this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix appear ominous.

The prancing horse, on the back of two wins in Bahrain and Malaysia, appear to be finding their stride nicely.

Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, who both failed to finish the opening Australian Grand Prix, appear more at ease with the F2008, with Massa in particular flying through testing in Barcelona last week.

Moreover, the team's revolutionary slotted nose design has been the talk of the paddock, providing its competitors with more to ponder.

Ferrari's sporting director, Stefano Domenicali, while wary of the competition, believes they are in a strong position.

""We come to Spain with every reason to be optimistic after wins in Malaysia and Bahrain. Testing here went well and we hope to keep our momentum moving forward."

Reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen said he felt even more excited than normal heading into the Spanish Grand Prix.

"I think we have speed enough for the weekend... I expect Ferrari to be very competitive at Barcelona, but it's going to be close between the top teams.

"We have won our last two races and that makes our competitors attack even harder."

Meanwhile, Ferrari's chief designer, Nikolas Tombazis, said claims the slotted nose design was a "secret weapon" were an exaggeration.

"The influence on car performance of the slotted nose has been greatly over emphasized. You cannot measure the effect if one component in isolation and the nose is just one bigger package and in fact, its effect is not that big.

"Overall, we expect the new aero package to produce some improvement in performance but it would be wrong to call it a race winning item."

Felipe Massa, last season's winner in Barcelona, said "everyone" had been talking about the nose because it was so "highly visible."

"In reality it represents just a small step forward in our performance. It is not this that will make the car one second a lap quicker... it is just a normal step forward in aerodynamic terms."

Renault's Fernando Alonso, however, remained mostly bleak about their chances. "We are missing some speed and that is what we hope to improve with the latest updates that we have coming. I know that the team is doing its best to progress quickly, and I will continue to give my maximum this weekend."

Alonso said "big efforts" had been made to improve his car's aerodynamics and the level of mechanical grip, with the testing results in Barcelona -- where he set the fastest lap time on the third day of testing -- proving encouraging.

"But it remains to be seen how much our competitors will have improved by as well... all the teams and drivers know the track very well, so it is difficult for the driver to make a difference at this level.

"I hope that our hard work will pay us back and that our car will allow us to catch up with the other teams, although it will certainly not be easy."

Renault's technical director Bob Bell said the team had made "quite a major" aerodynamic upgrade.

"We now have quite a clear picture of where we are under performing... at the moment we are deficient in aero-generated grip in the high-speed corners. That's where we are making the biggest push because that area is probably contributing the most to our lack of performance."

Bell was positive that the changes would prove beneficial.

"We can be reasonably confident that it will be a big step forward and that it will be multiple tenths of a second." E-mail to a friend

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