The interim 2005 Ferrari Formula 1 car, the F2004M, has finally appeared in public during a week of mounting pressure for Ferrari. Honda and Toyota have joined the GPWC, thought to be defunct after Fiat/Ferrari signed up with Bernie until 2012, and a constructors' meeting at Heathrow where Ferrari were the only one of the 10 F1 teams to turn up! Ever the optimist, FIA President Max Mosely was reported to see it more as a minor glitch than a major catastrophe and expects all the teams to get together at another meeting scheduled for April 15.

“I think there is an element of sulking at the moment,” Mosley said. “It’s a question of whether they are still sulking after Bahrain.”

Amidst all this controversy, Michael Schumacher and Luca Badoer were on track at the Catalunya circuit near Barcelona. The world champion worked on the set-up of the F2004M, while the Scuderia’s official test driver concentrated on development testing of Bridgestone tyres.

The car features a triple element front wing with an additional "chin" wing and is Ferrari's solution to a problem which all the other teams are clearly chasing, as shown by the BAR 007 and the Sauber C24. This would seem to be a search to replace front end grip lost by the change in the regulations, specifically the lifting of the front wing height. Mind you it could be for brakes, rear end grip, tyre durability or even engine life for all we know! Whatever, it's going to make for some interesting first corners...

Schumacher completed a total of 57 laps, the quickest in a time of 1’16”003. Badoer did 74, the fastest in 1’15”894.

Meanwhile, at Vairano, Andrea Bertolini carried out aerodynamic testing down the straight, at the wheel of an F2004M. He covered a total of 287 kilometres on the fifth day of testing with more to follow. No wonder Ferrari have no interest in joining the other teams' proposed testing limit.

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pics by Sutton, Sauber F1 & BAR f1