MARANELLO, Italy -- Formula One world champion Ferrari has unveiled its new car for the 2002 season but said it still may begin the campaign with last year's vehicle.

The new F2002 car, a radical re-working featuring a new integrated gear-box, was given the traditional glitzy presentation at the Italian team's factory in the presence of Ferrari's world champion driver Michael Schumacher.

But Ferrari team manager Jean Todt told reporters a decision on whether to race the new model at the opening grand prix in Australia would not be taken until after further testing of the car.

"Now we will see how it is on the track and then decide," Todt said Wednesday.

Technical director Ross Brawn said the option of the old car, itself a winner in the constructor's championship, was a useful "parachute" but stressed it could only be a stop-gap for early races.

"The old car will not remain competitive forever. It may be the choice for the first few races but not for the season.

"Everything tells us that the new car is significantly quicker then the old car which is why we built it.

"It is lighter, has a lower centre of gravity and more engine power," said Brawn, adding that a decision over which car to start with would be made in the "next few weeks".

Old and new
Brawn also raised the possibility that Ferrari could ship both the old and new car to Australia and may even race both of them.

Ferrari insisted they were not behind schedule and said they had planned to take more time over development due to the lack of real regulation changes.

"This year was unique in that we could race our previous year's car -- a car that didn't do badly," said Brawn.

"What was clear was that, unlike in previous years, we did not need to build a car because of a change of regulations but we should only build a car if it could be better.

"At the time, when we would normally release the designs of the car, we were not satisfied with the margin of improvement -- it was not enough.

"We decided to prolong the development to ensure that we had an appreciable step-up in performance. This has resulted in a shorter period of testing before the first race.

"We will use the next 20 days to run the car at Fiorano and Mugello and will then make our decision based on the normal parameters of performance and reliability," added Brawn.

The new Ferrari car has, however, earned the seal of approval from the man who will drive it -- world champion Michael Schumacher.

"It's beautiful and has some impressive innovations. I am astonished a car can be built so low and so tight -- I hope it drives as fast as it looks," said the German.