New Ferrari not the quickest on the field - Domenicali

[FA fan]

Tuesday 26 February at 13:35 : Feb.26 (GMM) Stefano Domenicali has admitted Ferrari will probably not field the fastest car at the 2013 season opener next month.

Indeed, based on the results of the opening two tests of the pre-season, most rivals and pundits think world champion Red Bull is still in the lead.

Veteran correspondent Roger Benoit, of the Swiss newspaper Blick, ranks Lotus second in his early 2013 pecking order, followed by McLaren and then last year's runner-up Ferrari.

"The target is to be close together with the leading cars," Maranello based Ferrari's team boss Domenicali told Reuters.
"I would be very surprised if it (the F138) was the quickest at the first race. But if we are all close together in a couple of tenths, then the season is really long and everything is possible."

Last year, Ferrari and Fernando Alonso fought back into contention after a dire start, and both the Spanish driver and Felipe Massa have said the F138 is on "a different planet" compared to what they had early in 2012.

Still, their 2013 machine will probably not be dominant, Domenicali warns.

"In Australia it is not the end of the championship, it's just the start. We need to be careful and stay cool," he added.

[shamim179]

So we're not going to be the quickest at the start of this year nor are we going to have all the updates by this weeks test?

Deja-vu to last year?

[SinanOzerS]

We're all know we're still haven't got a fastest car by far,but after the last Barcelona tests,we will be...

[superwonderboy]

I simply just do not understand as to why S.D would admit so early that we not the quickest. I do not mind not being the quickest, but we at least have to be very close to the quickest. To still have two other teams ahead of us to our arch rivals is simply just not good enough. We got to aleast be second quickest. I know it's still early days, but to hear such a statement from S.D is not good at all. I know Alonso and Massa are both able to fight for victories, but let's make it a little easier for them by giving them both competitive cars. I believe in ferrari the team and our drivers to do well in this year's championship, but we have gotta be very close behind the our arch rivals which is R.B i believe.

[shamim179]

All these negatives are coming out before the 3rd test week.

Stefano saying this stuff. Maybe he is giving too much respect to his rivals? Maybe he is saying this to cover his back in case we are off by a few tenths?

Massa was saying that we won't have all the updates.

Fry saying we are 3 months behind.

Alonso doesn't seem too positive nor does he sound too negative.

I'm not asking Ferrari to come out with lots of positives but why are we hearing all these negatives? Is this all mind games so that our rivals can relax more thinking that we won't be that competitive? Or is there some truth in this?

[mark p]

ferrari said this, button said mclaren are struggling and may not be upfront straight away and grosjean has said he thinks lotus are in the top 4. vettel only said rb appears more reliable and webber said alot of work to do. take it as you want one of these teams will be quickest but all are not overly positive to the press. knowone thinks they are top but all are happy. somethings got to give. its just psychology and adds to the show.

[thegourou20]

Sometimes I wonder where all the pride of Ferrari has gone too...

[Giallo 550]

Whatever. I'm going to wait until Australia before I start having any opinion on the '13 season. However, it would be nice for the team to be somewhat happy with the car prior the start of a season, for a change.

[ferrari4life]

what happened to all the optimism around here?
Oh wait maybe we are just sand bagging... Seesh i am tired of these slow starts to the season. Only to be followed by a narrow loss at the end.

[SoumyaBanerjee]

what happened to all the optimism around here?
Oh wait maybe we are just sand bagging... Seesh i am tired of these slow starts to the season. Only to be followed by a narrow loss at the end.

So am i. I sincerely hope that Dom is just playing down Ferrari's chances....after all,the situation is a lot better than that in 2012 and that is something we can be optimistic about. Nevertheless,it is disconcerting to see not-so-high budget teams like Lotus doing better in testing than Ferrari. But i will wait for the Australian GP before complaining!!!!

[Liscia]

Count on Ferrari to persevere - whatever the pecking order, they will either be at the front
or claw their way there eventually. That's why I LOVE this team! FORZA FERRARI!!!

[XXX132]

"The target is to be close together with the leading cars," Maranello based Ferrari's team boss Domenicali told Reuters.

WT..? Mate, the target is total domination and to make the other teams look like Forumla Ford slot cars!!

This is a very strange attitude for a "team boss". I don't expect him to reveal all our secrets, but he should be a lot more bullish and certainly a lot more positive about our chances (at least in public). He seems to have already settled for "near enough is good enough". I don't know what the internal mood is like at Ferarri but as a fan, it's disconcerting to hear this kind of lame remark from SD. After just two test sessions....

[anakin]

So the pace that lotus and redbull showed in the recent test is because of their new clever engine mapping that could be illegal?
they are arguing they didn't know what rules implements for 2013 regarding the engine mapping. because they are saying that the directive released last AUG was only for 2012.

if renault, redbull and lotus can get away with their new engine mapping, its all over.

ferrari might still have a chance. in contrast to what stefano.D was saying.
If FIA bring the hammer down and stop favoring redbull and renault.

what is it going to be? another gimme season for redbull?
come on FIA. sop bitcin around

[FA fan]

So am i. I sincerely hope that Dom is just playing down Ferrari's chances....after all,the situation is a lot better than that in 2012 and that is something we can be optimistic about. Nevertheless,it is disconcerting to see not-so-high budget teams like Lotus doing better in testing than Ferrari. But i will wait for the Australian GP before complaining!!!!

Well I think he is being very realistic! If you look at the last qualifying in brazil mclaren and redbull were faster than Ferrari by about 4-5 tenths, so for sure both these teams are going to start a bit faster,which means Ferrari has to bring about a full second to be as good as them,cuz both these teams won't just stay where they are,so basically Ferrari has to outpace them by a margin,which basically means they will play catch up as usual,and hopefully both Alonso and massa can make the difference!!
Some people are saying since the f2012 was slow compared to the improved f138 and Alonso got so close to winning the championship,and are being optimistic on this basis,should not forget that the red bulls were struggling in the beginning of last year, till Newey solved the problem for seb and got the blown exhaust really working and seb kept on taking poles! So their car is starting from that point and beyound!!
But lets look on the bright said,if lotus are faster than Ferrari,then grosjean will be ahead in qualifying of both Alonso and massa,and we all know anything can happen when the nutcase is driving!!

[Bubbles]

As long as Nicholas Tombazis keeps designing our cars, we'll never be ahead of anybody. I bet Williams are going to wipe the floor with us this year, in spite of the excellent drivers we have. Red Bull, Lotus, Williams, Sauber all have better designers than we do. Our only chance is for Rory Byrne to come up with a cracking design for 2014 and then replace Tombazis. Otherwise, we're doomed, and I'm not being pessimistic here.

I think Ferrari know this, too, which is why they put Rory back to work. In fact, I reckon it's him that wants to get back because he knows with Fernando at the wheel we can do great things.

So, yeah, that's my take on the current situation. Tombazis may be a nice guy and all, but he can't design , lacks creativity.

I would even fear Marussia if they had a bigger budget, to be honest - it's that Pay Symonds dude.

Hope I didn't offent anyone.

[TheProdigalSon]

You guys need to calm down, this is what he really said, once again it was taken out of context

Domenicalli : We're doing alright

Stefano Domenicali says Ferrari are in much better shape than they were ahead of the 2012 season, but does not expect them to have the quickest car in Melbourne.

The Scuderia endured a nightmare pre-season last year, with their car fundamentally slow and only the brilliance of Fernando Alonso kept them in Championship contention during the first four flyaway races.

The F138 appears to be a major step forward, with Felipe Massa saying he has a "good feeling" about the car. However, Domenicali does not expect them to be quickest at the Australian GP.

"The situation at the moment seems to be alright - alright with the problems we have," said the Ferrari Team Principal.

"We will soon know the exact situation, although not in Melbourne because that is only the first race.

"But my view, the target, is to be close to the leading car. I will be surprised if we are the leading car because with the stable rules we were not the quickest at the end (of last season).

"But if we are close together, within a couple of tenths (of a second), then with such a long season anything is possible.

"We need to make sure we are close to the best car, and then the team and the driver has to make the difference."

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/...he-2013-season

[Massimo181]

I am hoping that this is tatics that Ferrari are playing to the rest of the teams to say we have big updates that are going to move us up the front.

So they play down their chances and when the updates arrive no one is interested?!

If they are saying that the car is a update from last years car with Alonso saying same pedal, same steering wheel, same seat and the car has 4 wheels etc.

Then they new that they had problems last year and not a quick car in Brasil, Then why did they not just produce the exact same car and just tweek the problems.

Obviously Domenicali is at the life end of his enegineering, F1 designing Newey brain lol!!!

It is hard to speculate until we are in Aus but then all the comments will start get rid of Massa, Sack the team etc if we do not do well!

They have the resources at Ferrari but my thoughts are that they never move old personnel on and get new Ferrari blood in!

I suppose if Ross Brawn came available then Ferrari and the fans may say employ him!?!

Next year is a new year for all and we should see a new young Ferrari team!

The cars have a shelf life so should the personnel!

[diesel08]

Tactics and smoke-F138 look very promising. Wait and see, have faith.

[radosav]

It isn't important that isn't quickest car on the field, it is important that is quickest car on the track!

[wisepie]

The biggest worry again is our quali performance, because if we can't get that right, we're already on the back foot. Tyre and overheating issues may be the other main factors making the early races un-predictable, so we must be able to start at the top end of the grid with both cars. The rest will fall in to place as the season progresses.

[Silent Bob]

Well let's be realistic... it's not like the other top teams are just a bunch of hacks. There are some very good F1 teams out there and it isn't just as easy as snapping your fingers and your car is magically faster. If we start out on a level playing field with the other top teams, then that is a pretty big step up for us considering how much slower the car was last year. With the rules the same there isn't going to be an eureka! solution... it's going to be evolution, tweaking and refining that'll make our car better.

[AfterLife]

[varun]

Why does SD always come up with ridiculous statements...
and more importantly why do always start from behind others (accrdng to SD)
why cant we have a car on terms with RB9,MP4-28 etc and then see wat Alonso can do!!
but why always we get statements like "we are 3 months behind..".,"we are doing OK"

[cokata]

plain and simple ferrari can't build fast cars.we failed massively last when we stopped developing the 2011 car early just so the 2012 car can be competitive,and that was the slowest ferrari i have seen excluding 2009,but then again all KERS cars sucked that year.We do have the best driver and the best pit crew,and even in terms of strategy we were very good,but since 08 every car has been reliable but very underwhelming in outright speed

[PURE PASSION]

plain and simple ferrari can't build fast cars.we failed massively last when we stopped developing the 2011 car early just so the 2012 car can be competitive,and that was the slowest ferrari i have seen excluding 2009,but then again all KERS cars sucked that year.We do have the best driver and the best pit crew,and even in terms of strategy we were very good,but since 08 every car has been reliable but very underwhelming in outright speed

F10 wasn't bad!!!

[FerrariF60]

What if ALL this downplay of the car, both from SD as well as Alonso (when he wasn’t too “happy” in his interviews) is all just a fake show to throw away the competition having them believe that we’re really not that competitive so that they (competition) wont’ work as hard.

Then we show up in Australia with a really quick car…that would be simply amazing from a fan’s point of view..i know I’d be extatic…

I know we all thought last year that Ferrari was or at least we believed were sandbagging, tehn we showed up in OZ being 2plus seconds off pace…
I know this year’s car if you compare it to last year around this time is DAY and NIGHT difference…but that isn’t enough, well for me at least…I WANT US UP FRONT…I TOO as well as the team want us to BE FASTEST…

I really hope it’s going to happen

[FerrariF60]

F10 wasn't bad!!!

TRUE indeed....it wasn't teh quickest..but it was FAST..
i can only hope the F138 will be the same...if not in OZ, at least by SPAIN GP...is that TOO much to ask for??LOL

[varun]

then wat we were doing in 99-'05 when we used to nail it each time...
15 races won By Ferrari out of 17 in 2002
wen will we get to see that again...i had not seen that season..
we want it again ..FORZA FERRARI!!

[cokata]

F10 wasn't bad!!!

it wasn't but the only reason we fought till the end for the championship was because of the very poor reliability of the red bulls,and vettel was very unlucky the first 2 races he should have won,but the car let him down.

[stefa]

it wasn't but the only reason we fought till the end for the championship was because of the very poor reliability of the red bulls,and vettel was very unlucky the first 2 races he should have won,but the car let him down.

Exactly!