LONDON -- Ferrari's chief designer Rory Byrne has indicated that the double world champions could start the next Formula
One season with this year's dominant F2002 car.
Byrne said that the new F2003, an updated version of the car which won 15 of the 17 grands prix this year, would not be completed
until February, while the new season opens on March 9.
"We have refined this year's car, and it will run in early February," Thursday's edition of British magazine Autosport quoted Byrne as
saying at a recent event in his honor in his native South Africa.
"Even if we don't race it immediately, we will ensure that it builds on our successes."
World champion Michael Schumacher won in the season-opening race in Australia this year when driving the previous season's car before debuting the radical F2002 in the third race in Brazil, where he eased to victory.
The German's teammate Brazilian Rubens Barrichello remained in the F1-2001 in his home race before Ferrari used two F2002s for the first time in the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in April.