Stefano Domenicali doubts Ferrari’s competitiveness in the season opener – Formula 1 news
Ferrari team principal, Stefano Domenicali has said that he will be very much surprised if their new car will be able to set pace in the first race of the 2013 Formula 1 season despite a promising pre-season testing programme.
The Italian squad struggled a lot during the last year’s pre-season tests as they failed to create a thorough understanding about their car. In addition, their technical director, Pat Fry even ruled out the possibility of a podium finish in the season opener.
However, they had quite a successful pre-season testing in this season and both the drivers, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa seemed comfortable behind the wheels of their cars.
Even though, Domenicali expressed his satisfaction with the development of this year’s car. But, he was not sure that whether they will be able to set pace in the 2013 Australian Grand Prix.
Nevertheless, he said that they are looking forward to stay closer to the top team and driver. In addition, he said that they are expecting a very long and competitive season for which they have to score points on consistent basis.
“The situation at the moment seems to be alright, alright with the programme that we have,” Domenicali is quoted by Reuters. “The target is to be close together with the leading cars.”
“I would be very surprised if it was the quickest at the first race. But if we are all close together in a couple of tenths, then the season is really long and everything is possible. We need to make sure that we are close to the best car and then the team
and drivers have to make the difference. In Australia it is not the end of championship, it's just the start,” he added.
Besides, he said that they are feeling quite confident as compared to the preceding year and are hoping to come up stronger right from the start of the season in order to win the championship.
It will be thrilling to see how Alonso and Massa perform in this year’s championship and whether they will be able to beat their rivals or not.
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