Stefano Domenicali expects Ferrari to improve rapidly: Formula One news
Ferrari’s team principal Stefano Domenicali has admitted that his team lacks the speed to match rivals McLaren and Red Bull. The major issue for the team though, is that there is no quick solution which can lift the performance of the car in the upcoming
Turkish Grand Prix.
Domenicali told reporters, “I am a pragmatic guy, and I am expecting a big push from the guys back home, the engineers and the people. But I know it is not a short-term job. I am not expecting a miracle in Turkey, because I think it will take longer.”
He further added, “We need to react and I am sure the people at home want to show, I would say, to all of us what we want to do. But it is the right approach in order to make sure that we can close the gap that is in qualifying not acceptable for sure.”
Ferrari were close to a podium finish in the Chinese Grand Prix, but driver Felipe Massa was unable to find the grip with Pirelli tyres towards the end of the race. This cost him a lot of time and he got caught by some quick cars behind. This was disappointing
for the Italian outfit, as they have been unable to score a single podium finish in the 2011 season until now.
The team had opted for a two-stop strategy for both drivers, Massa and Fernando Alonso. However, this didn’t work out in favour of Ferrari, and the cars with fresher tyres managed to get positive results.
Domenicali said that it was a difficult decision to make on the tyres, but he didn’t expect such a quick degradation rate on the harder compounds.
Ferrari didn’t display signs of panic after the inaugural race of the season in Australia, and Alonso claimed that he was pleased with the performance of his car. The Spaniard expected to improve in Malaysia, but things didn't change for the team.
The two-time Formula One champion remained calm after the second race as well, saying that the team would take a big step forward ahead of the Chinese GP. However, the scarlet car was unable to challenge the front-runners, and this time Alonso was not a
happy man.
The 29-year-old blamed the pace of his car more than anything for the lacklustre show. He rubbished the talks of being slower due to the two-stop strategy, saying that no approach could have worked out with the current speed of his car. He quoted an example
of the Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Both ended up on the podium even though they were on different strategies.
Ferrari will have to work even harder from now on, as they were even outpaced by Mercedes in the last race at Shanghai. The German team showed its true potential for the first time in the ongoing season.
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