Eddie Irvine has been told that he still has to prove himself to Ferrari bosses if he wants equal status within the team. With team leader Michael Schumacher out for a possible 16 week stretch after breaking his right leg in a smash at Silverstone two weeks ago, the focus of Ferrari's championship has switched to Irvine and the Ulsterman, currently enmeshed in contract negotiations for next season, has been vocal in demanding that the team bestow joint number one status upon him.

But yesterday, Ferrari sporting director Jean Todt said that Irvine still has to prove he has what it takes to be number one at the Italian giants.

"Eddie has done very well since the beginning of the season," he said. "He is second in the championship, only eight points behind Mika Hakkinen, but he still has to show what he is capable of. He has no Michael to worry about and I hope he can do the best job possible."

Todt added that Irvine's performance in the absence of Schumacher would be used as a yardstick to measure the validity of his quest for joint status at the team.

"As soon as Michael is back we'll see how the championship lies and choose the strategy that best suits the team. It is not up to the drivers to choose any strategy."

The Ferrari strategist had a further warning for Irvine, saying that if Schumacher's replacement, Mika Salo, proved quicker than the Ulsterman then a strategy rethink may be in order.

"We will have to give him some time to get used to the car," said Todt, "And if Mika is behind Eddie then he will be asked to do his best for the team, but if he ends up in front of Eddie then we'll have to see."

Despite the harsh words, Ferrari are still putting all their efforts behind Irvine's to secure the team's first drivers' championship since 1979. "We will be concentrating on both championships," Todt added. "It's half way through the season and Eddie's second and we're leading the constructors' championship by two points. It's all very open.

"What we have to do is improve the car. It's clear that Michael's lap times were quicker than Eddie's so what we have to do is improve the car. It won't be easy but that is what we have to do."

The sternest opposition for Irvine will, of course, come in the shape of the McLarens of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard and yesterday the Scot, who won the British Grand Prix after Schumacher's crash, said that the German's absence would have little effect on the championship.

"It does not change our focus at all," he said. "Obviously Michael was a big threat and I do hope he comes back as soon as possible but the championship is still there for all the drivers to win. Then again Mika Salo could turn out to be the sensation of the year. We'll just have to wait and see."

Salo will certainly have time to stake his claim for sensational status with latest reports predicting that the Ferrari number one will be out for anything between 12 and 16 weeks. While he continues to recuperate at his Swiss home after an operation on his broken tibia and fibula, Jordan have revealed that Heinz Harald Frenzten's leg injuries are more serious than was first thought.

The German is believed to have also injured his tibia, chipping a small sliver from the bone in the huge side-on crash he suffered in Canada last month. "It is not so serious when I am driving," Frentzen admitted, "but it hurts like hell afterwards."

Frentzen was urged to rest for several months following the smash in Montreal, but was back in the Jordan two weeks later to record the team's second grand prix win at a rain-soaked Magny Cours. With the mountain village of Spielberg, home to the A1 Ring, almost submerged by incessant rain yesterday, who's to say that the German won't battle through the pain barrier once again?