Ferrari dominance set to continue

Williams and McLaren need time to catch Ferrari

By Andrew Benson BBC Sport Online motorsport editor in Barcelona

Ferrari's domination of Formula One will not be ended in the immediate future, according to the bosses of the teams that are chasing them hardest.

Mario Theissen, motorsport director of Williams' engine partner BMW, has said that it will take months rather than weeks before the gap between Ferrari and the chasing pack is closed.

Michael Schumacher's pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix was nearly one second ahead of the fastest non-Ferrari, Ralf Schumacher's Williams-BMW.

The problem is that we are chasing a moving target

McLaren boss Ron Dennis

And Theissen said: "At the moment, Ferrari has a significant advantage. You can't close a gap like this in two or three weeks."

BMW is known to have the most powerful engine in F1, but the overall excellence of the Ferrari package has secured a lead on all types of circuit.

Theissen said that BMW Williams would improve their car until it was a match for Ferrari, but he did not know when they would achieve it.

"We know we can close the gap and improve, and we're working hard to do so," he said.

Ferrari's other closest challengers, McLaren-Mercedes, are delivering the same message, although unlike Williams it is generally perceived that the weakest part of their package is the engine.

Both McLaren and Williams also use different tyres from Ferrari.

That means that when their supplier, Michelin, has an inferior tyre at any given race, as they seem to have in Spain, they are even further hampered.

Mercedes sporting director Norbert Haug said: "The reality is that we are faced with a very dominant Ferrari/Bridgestone combination.

"They have the best package and we need to improve. We have not won so far [this season] because we were not reliable enough or fast enough."

Ron Dennis is pessimistic about catching Ferrari

However, McLaren boss Ron Dennis predicted that there would be races when Michelin have an advantage which would boost the chances of Ferrari being beaten.

"Of the four races so far this year, Michelin has had an advantage in two of them. Our ability to win races is very much in the hands of Michelin," he said.

"We hope to be in a position to win when they give us tyres that have an edge over Bridgestone. Here seems to play to Bridgestone's strengths."

Dennis also said it was impossible to predict when Ferrari might be caught.

"The problem is that we are chasing a moving target... You can only take a scientific approach and try to improve each aspect of the package."

He said that McLaren were planning to introduce some improvements for the next race in Austria.

But he added: "That will make a step. Will it make the difference between where we are now and the front of the grid? Probably not."