Luca di Montezemolo not optimistic about Ferrari’s pace for Chinese Grand Prix
Ferrari’s President, Luca di Montezemolo, has recently admitted that his team won’t be able to solve its new car’s issues before the Chinese Grand Prix that is expected to take place this coming weekend.
Luca believes that the team has not been able to perform during the qualifying sessions and as a result, his team needs to focus on its pace in order to challenge McLaren and Red Bull Racing Team up in the front for the podiums.
“I hope we see some improvement, especially in qualifying and to see us be competitive as we were yesterday [Sunday] in the race. But I reckon that will be difficult as I don't think Ferrari can turn it around in the space of a week”, di Montezemolo told
the media.
Fernando Alonso’s fastest time during the qualifying session of the Malaysian Grand Prix was around a second short of Sebastian Vettel’s pole position lap time, while McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was just 1 tenth short of the reigning world champion’s time with
the second fastest time of the session.
Ferrari revealed after the season opening, Australian Grand Prix, that it is going to improve its new car vitally in order to cover its deficit but it seemed that the team was exactly where it was at the season opener during the second grand prix of the
season in Malaysia.
According to the team’s results during the pre-season testing period, it seemed that Ferrari and Mercedes GP were the only two teams that matched the Red Bull’s pace but now, it is a completely different story as McLaren is the only team challenging them
up until now.
As a result, Ferrari’s principal, Stefano Domenicali, is also hoping to apply an upgrade to the team’s new car before the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix in order to get back in the chase for the title.
“I know from Domenicali, with whom I have just spoken, that everyone has got their heads down working hard. In the race, I saw Ferrari at the same level as the best and barring a couple of incidents we were definitely heading for the podium”, said Luca.
However, Montezemolo is currently thinking differently and he believes that the team’s chances of making a successful improvement are low.
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