Ferrari lets its hair down with red wigs.

From head shaving to red wigs, the Ferrari team is clearly going through a tonsorial crisis of identity at present.

The lurid red wigs donned by Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello on the podium at Sepang yesterday were matched by all the members of the team - including the normally less than demonstrative team boss Jean Todt.

Schumacher clearly did not understand the subtlety of the English expression 'to let your hair down' as he seemed to think the TV interviewer after the race was asking him if he wanted to shave his head.

Luca di Montezemolo kept a low profile until some time after the race - perhaps because he was afraid that he would be asked to wear a red wig - but the Ferrari president was on hand to lead the team celebrations on the occasion of the clinching of the driver's and constructor's championship double.

Montezemolo is not involved in the day to day running of the race team but he can take much credit for the third championship winning season he has enjoyed in his tenure with the Italian team.

The aristocrat was responsible in no small measure for the team that provided Niki Lauda with championship winning cars in 1975 and 1977, but this year's driver's title for Schumacher was much harder fought and a lot longer coming. Montezemolo kept the pressure off Todt for the last seven years, allowing the Frenchman to nurture and build an unbeatable combination without
succumbing to the inevitable political or media pressure that characterises the Ferrari squad.