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Ferrari F1 bosses fly home to Maranello
Source: Agencies |
April 13, 2011, Wednesday
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FERRARI Formula One team bosses flew back to Italy on Monday to try and speed up development and get to the bottom of their car's poor showing in the first two races of the season.
Ferrari said on its website that principal Stefano Domenicali, technical director Aldo Costa and assistant Pat Fry had returned to Maranello after Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix rather than head straight to Shanghai for the next race this weekend.
"The number one priority is still naturally enough, an investigation into the aerodynamics and on finding out why the cars' performance on track does not match the numbers produced by the wind tunnel," the team said.
"It is a very tricky operation, with consequences for every area of the development process: better to follow it first hand, to push it along a bit further. That way some updates planned for later races might actually be available earlier, hopefully starting here in China."
Testing
After looking fast and reliable in pre-season testing, Ferrari has been eclipsed by champion Red Bull and closest rival McLaren in the first two races in Australia and Malaysia. Ferrari has scored half the points of Red Bull while Spain's Fernando Alonso, a double world champion, and Brazilian Felipe Massa are only fifth and sixth overall.
Massa was fifth at Sepang on Sunday, with Alonso sixth. Neither have stood on the podium since last November's Brazilian Grand Prix.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said he remained optimistic despite concern about the lack of results. "I am certainly not happy with how the season has started but I have extraordinary confidence in people who, in difficult times, know how to react," he said.
Montezemolo said he was also mystified by the Sepang stewards decision to penalize both McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Alonso for a collision in Sunday's race, saying he saw only a "good sporting fight" between the two.
"Let's not exaggerate," he added. "I did not see anything unusual from either of them."
Ferrari said on its website that principal Stefano Domenicali, technical director Aldo Costa and assistant Pat Fry had returned to Maranello after Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix rather than head straight to Shanghai for the next race this weekend.
"The number one priority is still naturally enough, an investigation into the aerodynamics and on finding out why the cars' performance on track does not match the numbers produced by the wind tunnel," the team said.
"It is a very tricky operation, with consequences for every area of the development process: better to follow it first hand, to push it along a bit further. That way some updates planned for later races might actually be available earlier, hopefully starting here in China."
Testing
After looking fast and reliable in pre-season testing, Ferrari has been eclipsed by champion Red Bull and closest rival McLaren in the first two races in Australia and Malaysia. Ferrari has scored half the points of Red Bull while Spain's Fernando Alonso, a double world champion, and Brazilian Felipe Massa are only fifth and sixth overall.
Massa was fifth at Sepang on Sunday, with Alonso sixth. Neither have stood on the podium since last November's Brazilian Grand Prix.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said he remained optimistic despite concern about the lack of results. "I am certainly not happy with how the season has started but I have extraordinary confidence in people who, in difficult times, know how to react," he said.
Montezemolo said he was also mystified by the Sepang stewards decision to penalize both McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Alonso for a collision in Sunday's race, saying he saw only a "good sporting fight" between the two.
"Let's not exaggerate," he added. "I did not see anything unusual from either of them."
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