Schumacher talks up the threat of Williams

The speed of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello yesterday did little to allay fears that the Italian Grand Prix at this temple of speed – Ferrari's spiritual home – will be yet another walkover for the red cars that have come close to rendering this year's championship a one-marque contest. In 14 races so far, the Ferraris have only lost twice. Schumacher, if he finishes Sunday's race, will have gone 20 grands prix without a retirement.

Even that ultra-pragmatist Patrick Head, Williams-BMW's technical director, expects Ferrari to win. "They have no types of circuit where they are weak any more," he said, "and the gap between their package and ours is big so I see no reason why that should suddenly be reversed."

Ticket sales are down, however, even among the local fans – the tifosi – to whom Ferrari is a religion. So both drivers are aware that they need to talk up the threat from Williams-BMW. "To be honest," Barrichello said, "I think it is going to be much closer. I hope not, but I think it will be because of the nature of the circuit, the way that Michelin has been running this year in qualifying and the way they have sorted out their speed and power. I really think that it's going to be closer." Schumacher agreed. "I think BMW-Williams will be much more of a challenge here than they were at Spa," he said.

Yesterday's lap times did not bear out such "optimism". Schumacher set the fastest time, two-tenths of a second quicker than Barrichello and more than half a second faster than Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren-Mercedes. Friday practice times can be misleading as teams run different levels of fuel, chassis and aerodynamic set-ups in their quest for the optimum configuration for qualifying and the race. It will not be until this afternoon that the true picture emerges. Nevertheless, Eddie Irvine remained upbeat about Jaguar's fourth-fastest time, since the cars were also fast in testing here a week ago.

"The good news is that we are quick," Irvine said, "but the bad news is we are worried about the brakes. There's no point in reading too much into today's times."

Irvine, who is involved in yet another of his periodic wars of words with David Coulthard, will not have been sympathetic to the Scotsman's plight yesterday. While Raikkonen was closest to the Ferraris, Coulthard spun off the track early in the afternoon and was only 16th fastest of the 20 runners.

"We're not sure whether it was a problem with the brakes or the gearbox," Coulthard said.

Yesterday marked the first time that a Formula One team has officially tried the HANS (Head and Neck Support safety collar) that was invented in America and has since been developed further in Europe by the FIA, the sport's world governing body, to help reduce neck strain on drivers in serious accidents. Both Sauber-Petronas drivers used the device, having tried it several times in testing. Professor Sid Watkins, the innovative FIA safety delegate said: "We know from tests carried out by Daimler Chrysler that HANS enhances a driver's chances of escaping injury in high G-force accidents, and we have very good evidence from the CART and IRL series in America that it is a good protective mechanism that is just as effective as an airbag.

"I would recommend it to all drivers. The only problem is one of individual comfort, but I am sure that it is quite within the ingenuity of F1 designers to overcome that."

The Brazilian driver, Felipe Massa, said: "I had no problems at all with the device, and I'm pretty sure I will wear it in the race."