SAKHIR, Bahrain, April 27, 2009 (AFP) - Ferrari have denied that next month's Spanish Grand Prix will be the last chance to resurrect their title defence - but admit that they need to see a dramatic improvement.

After avoiding the ignominy of extending their pointless start to the season to four races, thanks to Finn Kimi Raikkonen's sixth place in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix, team chief Stefano Domenicali had ever reason to breathe a sigh of relief.

"For sure it is a very important point for us," he said, referring to Raikkonen's three points scored. "It was a breath of air that we needed at this moment, with the pressure that we had.

"But now we need to keep our feet on the ground. It was the minimum that we could have done today, so we need to make sure that we solve all the issues we have.

"At least, we know what we have to do, but again it was important to arrive at the chequered flag. We had to finish. We needed to score and we needed to recover some space to breathe."

Champions Ferrari are now 47 points behind leaders Brawn GP in the constructors title-race after four races of the 17-race programme for the season, but Domenicali said they have no intention yet of giving up.

The Italian team has a package of plans for improvements for the F60 due to be added to the car in Barcelona including revised aerodynamics, floor and diffuser as they join the other big-budget outfits in chasing to play catch-up on Brawn, Red Bull and Toyota.

"There is no doubt that Spain will be a very important race," said Domenicali.

"Firstly because we should have the first step in terms of improvement of the car; but I don't want to say that Spain is our last chance. This is not the case. For sure, it will be important, but not vital."

He added that he believed Ferrari would make a good step forward in performance, but could not anticipate any competitive advantage until he knew the progress being made by the rest of the teams.

He said: "We need to be very cool. We know we will have a different car, one that will, for sure, be better than the car we have now.

"But to say that it will be really the step, big step or small step, we need to see where the others will be because, for sure, they will not be asleep."

Already McLaren Mercedes, the perennial rivals of Ferrari, have shown improvement during the four opening races as exemplified by defending drivers' champion Briton Lewis Hamilton's strong drive to fourth behind triumphant compatriot Jenson Button of Brawn.

Renault have also reacted to being left behind by the controversy over the legality of the "double-decker" diffusers used by Brawn, Toyota and Williams; so, too, the Force India team.

Amazingly, this had left Ferrari struggling without a point prior to Sunday's race in which the pace was set clearly by Red Bull, Toyota and Brawn, with the latter's eponymous team chief Ross Brawn, formerly of Ferrari, demonstrating once again his unrivalled supremacy as a pit-wall strategist.

Brawn's ability to ensure that Button made his pit-stops with perfect timing to beat the traffic and run at his optimum at the right times in the race was the key to his victory, his third this year and fourth of his career.

"It is a great feeling," said Button, 29. "I have never felt I have been in a team with a real leader, a proper close-knit team before and Ross has done that here since he came in. We are a very strong unit now.

"And it is nice to win a race where I see the chequered flag and drove the full distance after the last few races! The car is tired now, knackered. We have pushed it to its limit and it needs a bit of refreshment and I am sure that is what we will get now we go back to Europe."