F1: Ferrari Engineers 'On The Case,' Says Domenicali

Formula 1

F1: Ferrari Engineers ‘On The Case,’ Says Domenicali

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali says the team is working diligently to fix the problems with the F2012 car...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted March 23, 2012 Sepang (MAS)

The Spanish bank Santander will remain a sponsor of Ferrari through 2017. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali remains hopeful that Ferrari can quickly get to the bottom of its problems with the F2012, but admits that it will take time.

“For sure, I’m disappointed by the performance of the car, no doubt,” Domenicali said Friday. “But on the other hand, what I need to make sure is that at home we need to push on the development of the car, because we know what are the problems with this car from the other weekend.

“Nothing has changed on that. I am confident that our engineers will solve the issues we have as quickly as possible because in such a close field, a little step makes a difference, and in such a close battle, when you are in a difficult moment, you need to score points because everything can happen.

“So that’s something, it is clear. Not happy, as I said, but not to be happy doesn’t help, and I’ve asked my engineers to be focused on the job because that is what they have to do.”

Regarding the unexpected return to Italy of Ferrari’s top management between Australia and Malaysia, Domenicali said: “What we did was to make sure that the focus on the program has to be there at home with the engineers, mainly in the aerodynamic department. I’ve asked Pat [Fry] to be spot on, on the case, in order to make sure that now that there is a lot of meat on the fire, we need to make sure this meat will be delivered as quickly as possible, as there is no time to lose.”

Felipe Massa was much happier Friday with his car – built around the spare chassis – although the timing screens showed Fernando Alonso some way ahead in the second session, in which Massa was only 16th.

“We had a program today with some changes on the car to verify some different configurations, and tomorrow we will have, let’s say, the best package, because in this moment I would say for him it’s important to feel the confidence around him," Domenicali said. "Not only him because the team has a lot of pressure, so that’s the status of the art we have done today.

“In terms of what we have seen today, we were trying to work with different programs on two different drivers, and tomorrow we will see the situation. Today there is nothing I can say that is going to one direction or the other. The work of today was done in order to make sure that tomorrow Felipe has the best car in the best condition. This is the thing we have to give to him.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

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