Ferrari news & quotes Malaysia GP 2011

[Nova]

Holy smokes, here we go replacing everyone again.....
So many know whats wrong with the car, mabey a ring to
Ferrari is in order...Im sure they would app the feedback.

[crewskas]

So what does the designer do? Doesn't performance and "integrity" come under he resume too? or does he just sit there and look pretty? If you want to attribute blame, you can't pin it all on either Costa or Domenicali and totally exempt Tombazis.

You win some, you lose some. It's only the start of the season. It's a complete over reaction to be thinking about who to replace. Thank god people like you don't run the team.

Lucky me, I'm not a teamplayer...
Do you really think it's the start of the season some are talking about, or the general philosophy we have the last years?
I don't exempt anyone...
Not even Tombazis...
But I care first who is the one taking decisions of the approach of the car, the team etc...

That's the person who we should blame I think...

Anyway doesn't really matter...
That's what forums are for...
To express our opinions. Mine is, we need radical changes.
And it's not only this year that makes my conclusions...

[Rob]

Step one - Replace Stefano, enough is enough of being on the backfoot, lead from the front

Sorry but I am knee-jerking

i deleted what i put, because i was in bit of a rage and frustrated. I felt bad for running the team down.

COME ON FERRARI!!!!!!

FORZA FERRARI!!!!

[vcs316]

Malaysian GP - Costa: “We must change our approach to development”

Sepang, 9 April – “We are not where we thought we were this winter: we lack performance.” Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro’s Technical Director, Aldo Costa did not mince his words and admitted that, at the moment the 150° Italia is not a match for the two best cars in the pack, the Red Bull and the McLaren.

Costa provided a precise analysis: At the last Barcelona test, we introduced a big package of updates on the car. Some of them worked as we had expected, while others, to do with the front end, were less effective and so we found ourselves with an unexpected performance deficit in Melbourne. But let’s make this clear, this version of the car is quicker than the one that made its debut in Valencia, but we have not improved to the extent we would have liked. How do we get out of this situation? If it was easy, we would have done it already, but we are not yet clear as to where the problem lies.

“We are working on it, but it’s a case of a complete evaluation we are currently undertaking, not just here at the track but also in the factory. When we have understood the situation, that will mean we have already made a good step forward and then we will need to be even more aggressive in terms of development of the car, because there are two teams that have set the bar very high. At Maranello, we have a lot of talented people and they are very peed off with this situation and I know that everyone is very keen to fight back.”

Costa also outlined how this reaction will take place. “We are working on different areas. There will be something new in China, and something more significant in Turkey and for the rest of the season. Will it be enough? I don’t know the answer to that now. Clearly we have to push harder than the others because we have to make up the ground we have lost, which today is greater than was the case last year. We have to change our approach in order to succeed.”

Working on two fronts; preparing for a race weekend and carrying out an in-depth analysis of the car, comes with a price to pay. “The time we spent yesterday on aerodynamic testing came out of the time available to work out the right set-up on the car and on studying the behaviour of the tyres,” explained Aldo. “However, between yesterday and today, we have made progress and I think that showed in qualifying and I hope that will also be the case tomorrow in the race. Clearly, I don’t expect us to be as quick as the top four, but I am sure we will do our best.”

[vcs316]

ALONSO DEMANDS FERRARI 'AGGRESSION'

Fernando Alonso believes a more aggressive approach from Ferrari is required if the team are to close the gap to their rivals.

Alonso actually declared himself "extremely happy" following the qualifying session for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, despite only managing fifth on the grid.

That, however, was effectively the best of the rest as the Red Bulls and McLarens fought out their own battle at the front.

Come the conclusion to a dramatic contest, world champion Sebastian Vettel pipped Lewis Hamilton by 0.104secs, with their respective team-mates in Mark Webber and Jenson Button in close attendance.

Just a third of a second separated the top quartet, however, Alonso found himself six tenths of a second off Button and a second behind Vettel.

"It is no secret we must improve over the coming races because we are not quick enough, in particular over one lap," said the double world champion.

"We need to be more aggressive with development because we are too far behind, but I have no doubts we can do it - we will do it.

"This is too big a team to have worries about this.

"But we must also remain calm and focused because the championship is very long and we've only had one race."

It is why Alonso is confident he will be in the title hunt again this year, perhaps recalling his charge last season following a rollercoaster start to the campaign.

"I'm very optimistic for the championship," added Alonso.

"Last year we saw how the situation can change continuously from one race to the next.

"We (Ferrari) struggled in some races, such as in Turkey when I did not qualify for Q3. I started from P12.

"But a week later we (via team-mate Felipe Massa) were fighting for the pole position in Monaco.

"So I'm extremely happy with this result. Fifth place is positive because so much could happen, especially if it rains.

"We were expecting more problems in qualifying, or a worse position, so to be fifth, starting on the clean side, I think for the race we will be up there."

[vcs316]

Analysis: Ferrari struggling for pace

At the Melbourne season-opener there was a question mark over Ferrari's true pace. Track temperatures were low, Ferraris are traditionally easy on their rubber and the depth of Felipe Massa's problems in generating tyre temperature, which are normally more pronounced than Fernando Alonso's, suggested that this could easily have been Ferrari's main problem.

The race was inconclusive, with Alonso being elbowed down the field on the opening lap but showing strong speed as he came through to an eventual fourth place. In Malaysia, however, Fernando said that there had been more to it than tyres and the team's performance thus far at Sepang has reflected that.

Alonso qualified quickest non Red Bull/McLaren in Malaysia but the gap to Sebastian Vettel's pole position time was a relative chasm - 0.93s.

Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa admitted in Malaysia that the team has performance issues dating back to the final pre-season Barcelona test.

"At the final two days of the last Barcelona test we introduced our first high specification car with several new aerodynamic components to test, some of which worked okay and some of which underperformed," he explained.

"At the first race we had a deficit and here in Malaysia, on Friday, we tried to understand what went wrong. But it's a long job and you can test very little on a Friday. We will probably continue in China and do some straightline tests when we get back. We are behind. Red Bull and McLaren have done a better job, they are putting the bar higher, so we have to react. In Maranello we have very good, talented people. They will be very upset."

Seeking solutions on a race weekend, Costa admitted, compromises race preparation: "We lost a lot of time in constant speed aerodynamic tests and we didn't work at all on tyres and setup. You pay the bill then. Overnight and on Saturday morning I think we arrived at a reasonable car in terms of balance for qualifying. In terms of the race pace and tyre wear, I think we made interesting progress, so let's see in the race, but I don't expect that we will go as fast as the first four."

On the thorny subject of Red Bull's 'flexible' front wing, a direction Ferrari pursued last year, Costa said that, like Ross Brawn, he had assumed that a more stringent 2011 FIA load test would close off that particular avenue of development. He now concedes that was wrong. "We are going deeper in the evaluation of front wings and we will do a 'flexible' front wing soon," he said.

As Brawn himself pointed out, however, "We see there is another car out there (the McLaren) that is not using that approach that is quite competitive as well, so it's not the only solution."

As things stand at the moment, Red Bull and McLaren appear to have stolen a march.

[Greig]

Stefano Domenicali: “We cannot be pleased with this result, because today, we had the possibility to finally leap up onto the podium. Two incidents, linked one to a reliability issue (a failure of the moveable rear wing on Fernando’s car) and one at a pit stop (a problem with the left front at Felipe’s first stop) cost us very dear. It’s a shame, because in terms of race pace the 150º Italia seemed much more competitive when compared to its qualifying performance, as we had already seen in Melbourne. Once again today one driver, Vettel, was probably uncatchable but we were capable of fighting with all the others. Felipe and Fernando both drove great races: it’s up to us to give them a better car. We find ourselves in a situation where we need to be perfect to maximise our potential, given that we are lagging behind in terms of performance: we did not manage that and we must do all in our power to avoid that situation repeating itself. At the same time, we have to seriously ramp up the development of our car to make up the lost ground compared to the best. We will try and complete an analysis of the aerodynamics of the car as quickly as possible and introduce some developments as soon as we can, maybe right from the next race in China.”

Fernando Alonso: “I am happy with this race: not with the result but because we were finally competitive, capable of fighting wheel to wheel for a place on the podium. This is further motivation for the forthcoming race in China. We were not lucky: if the moveable rear wing had worked all the time, I could easily have passed Hamilton down the straight, but instead we had to fight hard. He defended very well and, unfortunately, we touched: that broke my wing and I had to come back into the pits to change it, thus losing any chance of getting to the podium. These things happen: today went badly for me, but another time we will have better luck. Here, the car seemed capable of managing the tyres really well which meant I could fight with the others. With the package we have today, we cannot fight for the win, but I hope that changes soon. In Shanghai, we realise we can expect another difficult weekend. We will have something new, but we don’t know how much progress it will see us make. Everyone knows that, at the moment, we just have to grit our teeth and that’s what we will do. There is still a long way to go in the championship and we must leave nothing to chance.”

Felipe Massa: “We definitely have to improve the car, but it’s equally true that our race pace is very different to our performance in qualifying. That’s a positive, but we know that grid position is nevertheless very important, so we have to move forward on this front. As for my race, it was a shame to have lost valuable seconds at my first pit stop: but for that problem, I could have fought my way to a podium place. With the soft tyres my pace was very good, less so on the hards, to such an extent that Webber, who in addition had made one more stop, managed to pass me.”

Pat Fry: “Today we had the potential to pick up rather more than these 18 points, but we didn’t manage it, which leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth. Fernando could have made it to the podium, but the coming together with Hamilton, which led to the front wing breaking, meant he had to make an additional pit stop. Unfortunately, the Spaniard had to tackle the duel with his former team-mate at a disadvantage, as he was unable to use the DRS which failed after a few laps because of a mechanical problem. Felipe lost valuable position at his first pit stop because of a problem with the wheel nut on the left front wheel, otherwise he too could have been fighting for a podium place. From a strategic point of view, we scheduled three stops and that proved to be correct. Today, tyre degradation was less than what we had seen on Friday afternoon. The 150º Italia showed it had a good race pace, as indeed was the case in Melbourne. We leave Malaysia aware that we have a lot of work to do to raise our performance level and there can be no doubt about that, but it is also the case that, in the race, the gaps are not as big as in qualifying.”

[Rob]

Malaysian GP - Within sight of the podium4.10.2011

Felipe Massa finished the second round of the world championship in fifth position, one place of his Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team-mate, Fernando Alonso. However, these bare facts hide the true story of the race that provided plenty of excitement for the fans, even without the much awaited Sepang storm and in which both Ferrari men had genuine opportunities to finish on the podium today. In the end, a malfunction of Alonso’s adjustable rear wing meant a straightforward passing move on Hamilton became a titanic and thrilling struggle between two worthy opponents. It ended when the Spaniard clipped the rear of the Englishman’s car, which forced the Ferrari driver to make an extra unscheduled stop for a new nose. Felipe too put in a spirited drive, although a slow pit stop dropped him down the order and in the end, Webber on fresher tyres was able to sneak past the Brazilian who had battled his way back to fourth, but had to settle for that fifth place. Eighteen points mean the Scuderia is still third in the Constructors’ Championship on 36 points, 14 behind McLaren and with half the number of Red Bull Racing the leaders on 72.

The race was won by Sebastian Vettel who thus has a full quota of points having won for Red Bull Racing in Melbourne a fortnight ago. Currently, the German world champion is in a class of his own. Behind him, there were several drivers who seemed ready to lay claim to second place, that position eventually going to Jenson Button for McLaren. Nick Heidfeld, who drives for Renault this year as the replacement for Robert Kubica took an impressive third place, which he built on by powering into second place at the start, from sixth on the grid.

As the lights went out Vettel led from pole, then came the unexpected Heidfeld, followed by Hamilton, Button, Petrov and then Felipe who passed Fernando at the hairpin, with Schumacher and Webber just behind. By lap 6 the two Ferrari men had got by Petrov and then as early as lap 10, Webber began the tyre changes. Three laps later, in came Felipe to switch from old to new soft tyres, but a problem on the left front wheel nut meant his stop was longer than it should have been and he dropped down the order, while Fernando, on the same three stop strategy came in next time round.

Lap 16 saw Fernando go fourth as he passed Button and then third as he moved ahead of Kobayashi. By lap 18, the Spanish Ferrari man was third, about 4 seconds behind Hamilton, while Felipe was in seventh place. From lap 22 onwards, the three stoppers came in for their second tyre change. Lap 30 saw Fernando fourth behind Vettel and the two McLarens and a few laps later, the Ferrari man began to close on Button, while Hamilton had a slow pit stop on lap 37. Lap 40 saw Alonso briefly second, but only because of the run of pit stops, after which he was right with Hamilton. Unfortunately, any chance of getting the F150º Italia ahead of the McLaren were thwarted by the fact Alonso’s moveable rear wing system was no longer working, but the double world champion is not the sort to give up easily, hence began a fantastic fight between the two men. Unfortunately, on lap 46, with 10 to go, Fernando’s front wing just clipped the back of his rival and he had to come in for a new nose, which effectively ruined any chances of a strong result. In fact, after the race, the Stewards gave both men a 20 second penalty; the Prancing Horse driver for causing an accident and the McLaren man for changing too often. Fortunately, while Hamilton dropped a place on the result sheet, Fernando’s time advantage was such that it kept him in sixth place.

As for Felipe, who made his final pit stop on lap 38, he found himself struggling a bit on the hard tyres and despite his best efforts, he was unable to fight off a recovering Webber, who on fresher tyres, eventually passed the Brazilian on lap 50 to take fifth place off him, after which the Australian also moved up to fourth when Hamilton, another one struggling with tyre wear, ran wide with three laps to go.

At the flag therefore, Vettel shared the champagne spraying duties with Button and Heidfeld (possibly the most delighted man in Sepang.) The other points went to Webber fourth ahead of Felipe, then Fernando was sixth, with Kobayashi promoted to seventh, Hamilton demoted to eighth, Schumacher ninth and Di Resta taking the final point for tenth spot.

For Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, the obvious conclusion, now reached in both races so far, is that the pace of the Maranello car is much better in the race than in qualifying. This alone will not be enough to win races and there has been plenty of talk all this weekend from senior personnel in the team, indicating that the technical battle is only just beginning,as everyone in the factory prepares to ramp up efforts in developing the car. Already there are updates making their way to Shanghai where the Chinese Grand Prix takes place in just one week’s time

[red5]

Epic quote by our team:

Andrea Stella: "'Amilton' is in on 'ard' tires....we've have to push on them"
Alonso: "I'm pushing,I'm pushing,don't worry" : :

[Grillo]

Epic quote by our team:

Andrea Stella: "'Amilton' is in on 'ard' tires....we've have to push on them"
Alonso: "I'm pushing,I'm pushing,don't worry" : :

I think Stella was saying that for a reason. I was looking at the live timing and Alonso was slower with that set of tyres, I was wondering if someone would mention it. I think it was the last set of soft tyres and Stella thought he was not pushing much.

[scuderiafan]

I tell you, you cansee the change in writing by the team's press releases in a day. From difficult friday and lots of work and Mystified, to we have upgrades so we will be even

better, we'll sort this out, happily surprised by the smallness of gap.

This seems to be the vibes that i'm getting.

BTW who does the press releases form Ferrari? is it Coljanni?

[dfunk257]

Uuuum hello Stefano, Pat???? It was not just 1 stop that was a problem, it was a few very slow stops that played a massive part in ruining our race or else we could have had BOTH of our drivers on the podium in 2nd and 3rd.

[Nova]

Dont some of these remarks belong in the Sack Everyone type thread????
Sack sack sack sack......I thought a sack was something u put groceries in..
At least that thread has some humor..

[bkircher]

I have said it for three years now, I still think Stefano needs to go. We need someone that can actually back up the words he says. He says that nothing less will do other than both championships, but yet he cant back it up. He is a nice guy, but he is to passive, he doesnt seem to have any aggression that say flavio would show when something needs to happen right now. Our car design resembles the F60 far to much and look at how well that car turned out to do :/ Radical stuff needs to happen within the next 2 races or else the season is done for and the hole will be to big to climb out of.

[dfunk257]

I dont want anybody to be sacked unless it gets really really bad, all im saying is get ure together, especially with the car. If we dont end up producing the best car in the next 2 races then in my view Seb is allready world champion. He is in another league at the moment and gonna be so hard to beat. We have allready given away valuable points which we may not be able to get back in the end. So im praying that Ferrari can get it together and make this car a beater, not a follower.

[Tifosi]

I have said it for three years now, I still think Stefano needs to go. We need someone that can actually back up the words he says. He says that nothing less will do other than both championships, but yet he cant back it up. He is a nice guy, but he is to passive, he doesnt seem to have any aggression that say flavio would show when something needs to happen right now. Our car design resembles the F60 far to much and look at how well that car turned out to do :/ Radical stuff needs to happen within the next 2 races or else the season is done for and the hole will be to big to climb out of.

So you blame Stefano for the fact that the F150 visually reminds you of the F60?

Do you really think Ferrari don't know what they need to do or that they are suddenly going to realise that they've been thinking all wrong about this and are going to be in a position to make radical changes within 2 races? What do you suggest that they do? They can only juggle a certain number of untested variables without turning it into a lottery. They can copy an exhaust or a flexing wing but that just adds more variables and also takes their eye off the ball.

We have a fast car that needs to work better with its tyres on a single lap and we also need to try to stop Vettel from getting Pole and thus easy victories. We can see that it's not a dog to drive and that it has race pace. Flavio would be able to do sod all about it if he were (heaven forbid) in Ferrari at the moment. When his Renault was bad in 2008, all he could do was fix races to help raise its profile.

Saying "something needs to be done" is pretty much assuming that Ferrari don't know what they are doing and are incapable, which is just wrong. I'm sure Macca's fans were calling for heads after winter testing, but right now they suddenly look like they knew what they were doing all along. That's the way it's working in F1 these days.

[Greig]

[pedantic]Renault won 2 races in 2008 [/pedantic]

[Tifosi]

That's what I mean - it was bad!

[Sianellen]

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns23127.html

Interview: Stefano Domenicali

Ferrari had a difficult qualifying session in Malaysia but a stronger race that was ultimately handicapped by a left-front wheel problem at Felipe Massa's first stop and a failure of Fernando Alonso's DRS rear wing. Tony Dodgins listened to Stefano Domenicali reflect on a race that brought fifth place for Massa and sixth for Alonso

Q: Your race pace was good but how do you improve qualifying?

We know that our race pace is better than our qualifying speed and the important element to understand is the tyre usage. We have seen clearly how there are differences between drivers who are in the same car and that has an important effect. One element where we need a big step is to create better downforce on the car. If we do that we can start further up. We saw today that both our cars were behind Mark (Webber), who didn't have a fantastic start, so we lost out there and were in traffic at the first corner. It was always then an uphill climb. We need to understand how to do better in qualifying. At this moment we can probably take out Vettel, but with Webber and the McLarens you could see crystal clear that we could be fighting for a podium.

Q: Were there too many pit stops in the race?

It's not easy for the public and it's hard for the teams but that's the way it is. It is part of this year's game and we don't have to make excuses. It puts more pressure on the team to be perfect and unfortunately today we had a problem with Felipe's first stop, which cost a lot of positions. When that happens you have to push, you use the tyres more and it's all connected -- a new situation this year.

Q: How did you read Fernando's incident with Lewis?

We could have overtaken Lewis on the straight because it was a clear difference in terms of pace, and then we could have gone and attacked Jenson.

Q: So was it a mistake by Fernando?

I can't say that. When you are trying to overtake and there is difference in performance you can't say that. I like the way Fernando drives, it's fantastic and the other consideration this year is that if you go off-line it's a big problem. There are loads of marbles off-line. You try to keep your line and suddenly if you go off line you get marbles on the tyre and lose performance. So if the overtaking opportunity is not clear, you have to take some risk. But it's a shame because without the rear wing problem for Fernando we could have really attacked.

Q: What happened with Fernando's DRS rear wing and when did he lose its use?

We don't know why it failed but it was early in the race. He was unable to use it to attack when needed and it looks as if it was a mechanical problem.

Q: Do you like the F1 that we can't predict and in which drivers can't defend?

We can have two categories of thought. We have seen two races that were quite different in that respect, even if one has been affected on our side because of the wing problem. For sure it's a new situation we have to face and need to make sure that we give it the best chance. The main purpose was to have more overtaking and the question is whether this is a natural thing for F1 or, is it something artificial? From the spectacle point of view a lot of people like to see the wing opening and closing and the drivers getting closer and fighting. The other thing is that it's a fact and we have to live with that. From the team's perspective we have to make sure that the thing is working, otherwise we fail on both points—no show and no overtaking opportunities!

[gpmaster]

Epic quote by our team:

Andrea Stella: "'Amilton' is in on 'ard' tires....we've have to push on them"
Alonso: "I'm pushing,I'm pushing,don't worry" : :

On which lap was that?