Ferrari’s Todt expects McLaren to be its strongest challenger this year

FERRARI sporting director Jean Todt believes McLaren will be their strongest challengers this year despite the emergence of Renault as contenders in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Ferrari’s new F2003-GA car made a winning debut at Barcelona to close the gap on McLaren, who lead the constructors’ standings as well as the drivers’ championship through Kimi Raikkonen.

Raikkonen and team-mate David Coulthard failed to finish at the Circuit de Catalunya after they crashed out to leave Renault’s Spanish driver Fernando Alonso to give Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher a good work-out for his second win this season.