Ferrari say that new driver Rubens Barrichello will have equal status with former world champion Michael Schumacher during the 2000 season.

The Italian team unveiled their new car on Monday, and said there would be no team orders as the season began.

Last year Schumacher's mid-season injury meant that Eddie Irvine had to step out of the shadows and challenge for the title, which he only lost at the last race in Japan.

There were also suggestions that once the German returned to action, he was unwilling to help a team-mate become Ferrari's first champion in two decades.

"Rubens and Michael will have to drive to the best of their abilities," sporting director Jean Todt said at Monday's launch.

"Later Ferrari will decide if we need a strategy and if one needs to drive for the other."

In the past it was always accepted that Irvine was a support driver, but Barrichello said he wanted only to be treated as an equal.

"If I had come here and said I wanted to be no 1, well, I would say I would have had trouble," the former Stewart driver said.

"I had to come in small and asked only for equal terms and support.

"But if I am winning in the first race they will let me win. There is nothing in my contract to say I have to let Michael pass me."

Schumacher said he had fully recovered from the broken leg he sustained at last year's British Grand Prix, and even believed the accident had helped him improve his training.

"The result is that, with the same four or five hours training a day, I can achieve much more but now I want to prove it in the car," Schumacher said.

The German viewed McLaren, and defending champion Mika Hakkinen as the major threat once again.

But he also warned about the challenge from Jordan and Jaguar, which has taken on the Stewart operation as well as Irvine's talents.

Meanwhile Schumacher gave young Briton Jenson Button a vote of condifence as the 20-year-old prepares for his debut with Williams.

Others including Hakkinen believe Button is too young, but Schumacher said: "It's not whether he's old enough but if he is mature enough and if he is fast enough."

As Ferrari's new F1-2000 car was unveiled from behind velvet scarlet sheets, technical director Ross Brawn said the machine had to be competitive from the first green light.

"The 1999 car was a good, reliable car which only twice broke down and which was also extremely fast," Brawn said.

"The only flaw was a lack of performance in the first races.

"We worked a lot and by mid-season the car was very competitive. This year we have extended development time before the season so we can be more competitive in the first race."

The new car will be lighter and have a lower centre of gravity as well as improved aerodynamics, and like McLaren's new machine, a new engine.