体坛英语新闻：Ferrari denies crisis after Aussie flop

BEIJING, March 21 -- Just one race into the new Formula One season and Ferrari is fending off talk of a team crisis.

    Ferrari had its worst season opener since 1992 in Australia last weekend, and the air of crisis deepened around the Italian team in the run-up to Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix when longtime boss Jean Todt resigned as Ferrari chief executive.

Ferrari chief executive Jean Todt holds up the trophy for FIA Formula One World Champion for Constructors during the 2007 FIA Awards Gala in Monaco Dec. 7, 2007

Rumors around the F1 paddock have No. 2 driver Felipe Massa being moved on and replaced with Toro Rosso's Sebastien Vettel, but the Brazilian was incredulous when asked about his future Thursday.

    "I have a three-year contract in case you've forgotten," Massa said. "I am comfortable inside the team.

Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa (L) of Brazil loses control on the second corner of the first lap of the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix March 16, 2008.

"Last race was not a fantastic weekend for the team, the drivers, our reliability. It's a case of one bad result and you change everything inside the team."

    The departure of Todt, following on from the defection of the team's technical director Ross Brawn to Honda in the offseason and the seemingly unstoppable rise of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton have combined to create an air of susceptibility around Ferrari that was unthinkable in the Michael Schumacher era.

    "He is still taking a lot of responsibility for everything that happens in the team," Massa said of Todt. "He is still around 100 percent. Maybe he is not coming to all the races, maybe he is not working from seven in the morning to nine at night like he was before, but he is still around for the most important decisions."

    The Australian result when both Ferraris failed to finish, seemed to lend credence to a Ferrari decline, but Massa said the fuel valve failure which affected the cars in Melbourne was now fixed and the team was ready to show its best in Malaysia.

    "We had a very bad race for both cars and the team in terms of reliability," Massa said. "It was not the new rules, it was not the modifications from last year to this year, it was just a bad race.

    "Everyone is lovoking forward because we have a good car, we have worked on the problem we had last weekend. Pretty much we have solved the problem.

    Hamilton rubbed salt into the Ferrari wound at the Australian GP, not only by winning, but claiming that he had plenty up his sleeve in doing so. So how much better can he and McLaren be around the Sepang circuit and its sapping humidity?

    "That is for me to know and you to try and guess," Hamilton said. "Being in front you are able to pace yourself and I just felt on top of things.

    "Last year I was on the limit everywhere and perhaps I consumed more energy physically and mentally than I needed to," he added. "This year I am a lot more under control."

    It was hard to know if McLaren was more delighted by its win in Australia or title rival Ferrari's failure, but Hamilton knows that Ferrari's reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen is still the man he has to beat.

    "I would much rather be where I am than having had problems," Hamilton said. "He is the world champion, and he is the man I have to beat.

    "They can't have a much worse weekend than they did last weekend. I am sure they will recover, and they had a very strong race here last year," he said.