As the tifosi awaits the beginning of the 2005 revival, Ferrari technical director, Ross Brawn, has revealed that his team is already working on its 2006 car.

Mindful of the new regulations which come into affect next season - primarily the new V8 2.4 litre formula - Ferrari intends bucking its trend in recent years and will start the season with its new car, which means getting the car on-track as soon as possible.

"It will probably a little bit earlier," Brawn admitted to Speedtv.com, "because of the quite basic change in the regulations, particularly the engine. So, we've got a hybrid car being built which will run this summer, which is the current car modified to take a V8 engine.

"Then we're intending to have the race car ready earlier than this one," he revealed. "So we'll be back on a more normal schedule, with the car being launched early next year, and with a hybrid car being used to run the engine and transmission and all those sorts of pieces."

However, that doesn't mean that Ferrari is easing up on development of its 2005 car, far from it.

"It has to be balanced," said Brawn. "We have to balance what we can achieve this year and what resources we can devote to next year. Clearly we're not competitive enough this year. If we pour all our efforts into this year and sacrifice next year, I'm not sure that will be the right choice. We've got to make a balanced judgment between improving this season and making sure that we get back to where we want to be next year."

Following this weekend's United States Grand Prix, Ferrari will return to the test track, where the team will continue its efforts in improving the 'first lap' performance of the car, in an attempt to help drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello qualify better, the F2005's real Achilles heel this season.

"In testing, we're trying things to see if we can get a quicker lap from the tires," said the Englishman. "I wouldn't say we've made any great progress. But that's something we're having to deal with with Bridgestone, and something which will take a little bit of time to reach fruition.

"It's the preparation of the tire, the setup of the car to use them on that first lap, and so on and so on. We've not made huge progress, but there's a lot of work going on.

"It's one of the projects that (designer) Rory (Byrne) is involved in, to identify and develop first-lap performance, and try and overcome our weakness," Brawn continued. "It's just his experience and racing mentality.

"Rory is a real racer. He'll do anything that's legal to find an advantage. He's a great lateral thinking mind."