Wind tunnel failure cost Ferrari, says Todt

MAGNY-COURS, France, June 29 (Reuters) Ferrari lost precious development time early this season due to a wind tunnel failure, team boss Jean Todt said today.

''We had a problem with the carpet (rolling road), the metallic carpet and we lost about two weeks' development, but that's not an excuse,'' he told a news conference at the French Grand Prix.

Asked whether the failure had hurt the Italian team, the Frenchman added: ''Okay, but it's up to us to have a wind tunnel that doesn't break''.

He did not give a date but a team spokesman said the failure at the Maranello factory happened in April.

Ferrari won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with Kimi Raikkonen in March and were also triumphant with Brazilian Felipe Massa in Bahrain and Spain in April and May.

McLaren have won the last three races, however, with Ferrari represented on the podium only through Massa's third places in Monaco and the United States.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS The Mercedes-powered team are 35 points clear of Ferrari after seven races, with British rookie Lewis Hamilton leading Spanish team mate and double world champion Fernando Alonso by 10 points.

Massa is a distant third, 19 points behind Hamilton, with Raikkonen seven further back.

However, Ferrari showed clear signs of improvement in testing at Silverstone last week, after bringing in new aerodynamic developments.

The Italian team also dominated free practice at Magny-Cours today with Raikkonen faster than Michael Schumacher's 2006 pole position time.

Todt said it was too early to be sure but hoped Ferrari would prove far more competitive from now on.

''Today we had some encouraging results that followed the results we had in Silverstone, with a new development that had been added to the cars,'' he said.

''I really hoped that we would be in a position to be able to fight for the first position. It is crucial if we want still to pretend to have a chance for the championships.

''Overall, Ferrari has been competitive since the beginning and we wished we had more success, but it is like with the wind tunnel -- we did not work as well as our competitors and that is why they are in front,'' added Todt.

REUTERS RS KP2338