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Formula One
F1: Ferrari Commemorate Earthquake Victims
Ferrari are paying tribute to the Italian earthquake victims in this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.
SPEED Staff  |  Posted April 17, 2009   Shanghai (CHN)
The earthquake struck the Abruzzo region of northern Italy (LAT)
The Ferrari team are commemorating the victims of the recent Italian earthquake this weekend by wearing tribute logos on their cars and overalls.

The earthquake took place in the Abruzzo region of northern Italy on April 6, and Ferrari, along with Toro Rosso and drivers Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella are marking the tragedy this weekend in Shanghai. The Ferrari F60s are adorned with the phrase Abruzzo nel cuore (Abruzzo in our hearts), and team principal Stefano Domenicali explained why team wished to pay tribute.

“President (Luca di) Montezemolo was keen to give a sign of support for everyone who lived through this tragedy and we are proud for our cars to carry the name of a region of Italy which is very close to our hearts, especially at a time like this,” commented Domenicali.

Ferrari's Friday practice sessions were reasonably low key, aside from their decision to run this weekend without the KERS system that has caused them several problems in both Australia and Malaysia. Felipe Massa ended the day 12th, over a second off the pace, while Kimi Raikkonen was two places further back in 14th. Afterwards, the drivers were divided over the effect of removing the KERS system.

Massa said: "As a result, we are losing even more performance, in addition to not having as much aerodynamic downforce as the best cars. We must try and push as hard as possible on the development of the car, but we know it will be very hard to catch up. The only recipe for getting out of this difficulty is to work.”

Meanwhile, Raikkonen said he didn't notice it, adding: "The balance of the car isn’t bad and one doesn’t feel the lack of KERS."

Domenicali said that because of the situation, Ferrari are essentially fighting a rearguard action for the time being. "We will have to run a few races on the defensive and try and do the best we can" said the team principal. "Clearly, without KERS, we lose a bit of performance and initial indications are that we are not seeing any improvement in the balance of a car that, let’s not forget, was designed to carry this system. We are in a difficult situation and we must try and stay calm and work hard on all fronts.”

Commenting on the day as a whole, Massa admitted that the team face an uphill battle to get back on the pace of the leaders, but that the situation in Abruzzo put matters in perspective.

"We are in a difficult situation on the technical front" said the Brazilian, "but when one thinks of what happened to those who we are close to and in the daily life of the people of Abruzzo, everything else takes on a different perspective."

"I hope that having the “Abruzzo nel cuore” message on the cars, as requested by President Montezemolo, might help to make these people feel less alone. As for the track, I can say our fight for the championship is ever more compromised."

Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, was willing to dismiss any notion of a championship challenge this season, saying "“The point is that we are too slow compared to the teams currently at the top of the order. We must try and improve the car: at the moment, we are not able to fight for the title.

"We must not give up the fight because, with the whole team working hard, we can get back into a winning position. It’s not an easy time, but our group is strong and we know what needs to be done to get out of this situation."

Both Raikkonen and senior engineer Chris Dyer agreed that the super soft tire was working much more effectively than it had done in Australia, with Dyer commenting: "We worked mainly on evaluating the two types of tyre made available to us here by Bridgestone, in terms of Sunday’s race. Here, the softer tyre seems to work better to what we saw in Australia, while the harder one has performed as we had expected.

Dyer also hinted that Raikkonen would be stronger on Saturday, saying: "We were able to evaluate new aerodynamic solutions, that, today, were fitted to Felipe’s car. Tomorrow, they will be used on both cars.”

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