Things are looking up again for Ferrari

This weekend, however, there will be more red flags and tee-shirts than usual, and the cheers will resonate just a little louder - for Ferrari are back in the hunt.

The desperate disappointment of last year's drivers' title chase, when Felipe Massa lost out on the last corner of the last lap of the last race to McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, has been confined to the memory bank.

And a dreadful current campaign marred by the near-fatal accident of Massa in Hungary, the debacle of Michael Schumacher's failed comeback, and the production of a racing car that until just recently has proved no match for that of former employee Ross Brawn, has finally been lifted by Kimi Raikkonen's storming win in Belgium two weeks ago.

"Bit by bit, we are putting everything right again," said Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo. "Victory is the best medicine."

No wonder Brawn GP and McLaren are casting wary eyes in the direction of Ferrari. The announcement today of a major sponsorship deal with the Spanish financial group Santander, owners of the Abbey bank and previously major backers of McLaren, will merely add to the wave of optimism.

Massa is on the mend and the highly popular little Brazilian is already making plans to return to the cockpit next year, when he will almost certainly be joined by Spain's Fernando Alonso.

His projected move from Renault, facilitated by the Santander deal, will enable the two-times world champion to realise a long-held dream to drive for the most iconic name in Formula One and he is expected to respond behind the wheel with results.

Despite five races remaining this season, Ferrari's focus has already been switched to an all-out challenge in 2010, with technical director Aldo Costa conceding that painful lessons were learned from last year's head-to-head duel with McLaren.

Costa said: "We had very little time to design the car for this season as we had to push as much as we could for 2008. And it has been a difficult season.

"To start with we had this saga about the double diffuser, which for us was a concept we did not consider because we still believe, in principle, it's illegal. It gave some teams a big advantage, so we've been at a disadvantage.

"And this year there were some teams that did better than us. For some teams you can explain that it was mainly because of the illegal diffuser concept, for other teams you can explain it by the resources and the time they had available."

Massa served notice in June, with a fourth place in the British Grand Prix followed by third in Germany, that Ferrari were finally catching up. His head injury sustained while attempting to qualify for the Hungarian Grand Prix proved a body blow to Ferrari. But Raikkonen has helped the team recover with second, third and first places in the last three races.

The 24 points won by the Finn since Hungary would put him top of a mini three-race championship - a similarly resurgent Hamilton has bagged 18 points and struggling championship leader Jenson Button just four.

Team principle Stefano Domenicali believes it is now only a matter of time before Ferrari become a real force again. He said: "For sure, the Belgian Grand Prix was a great day. After such a difficult season up to now, and what happened to Felipe, I think it was really what the team deserved.

"But then we at Ferrari never give up, we always push."