Against a backdrop of a grandstand filled with carefully positioned fans whose red and white T-shirts spelt out "F2001" - the type number of their new formula one challenger - Ferrari yesterday unveiled the car in which Michael Schumacher will defend his hard-won world championship.

Amid an upbeat, almost carnival atmosphere at their Fiorano test track, Ross Brawn, Ferrari's British technical director, described the new machine as "the best Ferrari we've ever created." He added: "The team is getting even more motivated; the group we have here is getting stronger and the stability of our staff helps immensely."

Schumacher underscored Brawn's measured optimism. The world champion admitted he was "born for racing" and confessed that he was better prepared than ever after missing much of winter testing after an operation to have a steel rod removed from his right leg, which was broken in the 1999 British Grand Prix.

"A lot of people may feel that after winning the title, my motivation is less," he said, "but I want to be at the limit all the time and it still gives me a lot of joy. "I will say that I've got a higher motivation for this season. My preparations are on schedule and it seems that the team is getting better and better all the time."

Ferrari is determined to hold the line and not fritter away its advantage. Compared to the car that won last year's championship, the most obvious visual differences concern the aerodynamics, the F2001 featuring a lower nose cone, higher positioned front wing and longer side pods.

The Ferrari F2001 is powered by the latest type 050 cast aluminium V10 engine developing over 800bhp. The team hope this will be sufficient to enable Schumacher to see off the rival McLaren-Mercedes MP4/16, driven by Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard, and which will be unveiled at Valencia next week.

A plan to give the Hockenheim motor racing track a major facelift looks set to go ahead after residents living near the German Grand Prix circuit yesterday said they backed a revamp.

Local residents groups voted overwhelmingly in favour of a plan to modernise the ageing track where British driver Jim Clark was killed in 1968, clearing the way for the company running Hockenheim to embark on a £44 million sterling redevelopment.

"It's a big relief for us. We are proud that the local population is so clearly in favour of Hockenheim," Hartmut Tesseraux, spokesman for Hockenheimring GmbH said.

Hockenheim's contract to stage the German Grand Prix runs out after this year's event on July 29th.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone said the track needed to be brought into line with modern grand prix technology and safety requirements to secure its position as host.

The southwestern circuit has hardly changed since it first staged the German Grand Prix 31 years ago and Hockenheimring feared the track could lose the race to the Lausitzring, a brand new track 130 kms south of Berlin.

Under the plan, the circuit will be shortened from 6.8 kms to four kms and its entire infrastructure will be refurbished and the number of seats will be increased. Work is expected to begin later in the year.

Ecclestone said he saw no reason why the contract to stage the Grand Prix could not be extended until 2008 if the redevelopment went ahead.

Security at the track came in for scrutiny after a Frenchman cut his way through a fence and crossed the track midway through last year's Grand Prix.