Stefano Domenicali: Ferrari going through a crucial time in the 2011 Formula 1 season
Ferrari’s team principal Stefano Domenicali has said that his team is going through a crucial time in the 2011 Formula 1 season after a disappointing result at the Canadian Grand Prix.
“Ferrari is at a crucial moment of the season. In the next races until after the British Grand Prix we will decide whether we continue to push for the world title or work already for the next season,” Domenicali told the media.
The team was looking pretty good at the start as Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were right behind the race leader Sebastian Vettel’s tail until their first pit stops.
One has to admit that luck played a huge role in the results of the Canadian Grand Prix as Alonso decided to pit for the second time after just a couple of laps of his first pit stop in order to have a performance advantage by changing his tyre compound.
Unluckily, the race was stopped since the conditions were pretty much out of the organisers hands. The race was restarted after almost 2 hours and during this time, the teams were allowed to make adjustments to their respective cars.
This means that the second pit stop for Fernando Alonso was a complete waste and it was nothing more than a track position decrease for him.
Massa on the other hand was looking pretty good until the race restart as he was in 3rd place by then with Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi between him and the race leader Sebastian Vettel.
Domenicali as a result admitted that the gap between the Red Bull Racing team and Ferrari is quite big and it is getting quite difficult for the team to close in on them.
“I'm not from the moon. Red Bull is a very tough opponent. F1 has changed dramatically. Previously, the largest teams could work almost without limits, with no limitations on testing etcetera. For a team like Ferrari, it is more difficult to work under the
new conditions,” he said.
Nevertheless, Ferrari were quite competitive at the Monaco Grand Prix where Fernando Alonso finished just inches behind Sebastian Vettel which reflects that Ferrari can score good performances as well this year.
Tags: