Ferrari confident after defeat

(7-Oct-98) - An internal inquest into why Ferrari were beaten at the
Luxembourg Grand Prix has led to increased confidence that the Italian team
can beat McLaren at the final round of the season in Suzuka.

Technical boss Ross Brawn insists that last month's race demonstrates that
Ferrari have as good a car as McLaren.

"There was a cigarette paper between Mika and Michael at the last
race," Brawn said, "and McLaren had a perfect race."

"We didn't. So from a positive point of view, we didn't do the perfect
job and we just got beaten, so if we can do the perfect job, we can make
that a little bit different. Earlier in the season, it's true that we were
waiting for them to make a mistake."

Brawn has blamed a drop in temperature on race day for the teams eventual
defeat as it caused increase wear on their Goodyear tyres. He also admitted
that McLaren had out-thought their strategy.

"In a straight fight, they had the edge, but we're not despondent. The
encouraging thing was that we were so close on performance and small things
like that decided who won," said Brawn.

Schumacher said: "Even if we don't win the title, I suppose I can be
happy with what we have achieved, because no one thought we could catch
McLaren, but we did."

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