Ferrari say they will be out of contention for the championship this year if they cannot turn their season around within the next four races.
Chief designer Nikolas Tombazis said: “We have made quite a lot of progress over the past few months and I believe that was visible in recent races and we hope that trend will continue.
“How well these next few races go will decide whether or not we feel we are still in with a chance of fighting for the championships this year, even if we are quite a long way behind in the points.”
Tombazis believes the performance of the 150?é?? Italia is improving and it should fare better in Valencia: “We were able finally in Monaco and Canada to be serious contenders for the win, even though, in the end, the expected result did not come our way.
“We were competitive because of two factors; the first is the characteristics of those two circuits which suited our car, while the second factor is the previously mentioned development brought to the cars. Both contributed to an improved performance in the last couple of races.
“I believe we can continue that trend in Valencia because the track there does have quite a few similarities with those at the two preceding rounds, particularly with Canada, as it has a long straight and some hard braking points and some medium speed corners, which we feel should suit our car reasonably well.”
He added the team will press ahead with introducing the new rear suspension. They ran it for the first time in Friday practice at Montreal on Fernando Alonso’s car.
Tomazis said: “It was a positive test. The tyres, for us and for most of the teams, are still fairly new and we are still learning about them and that suspension package was an attempt to better suit our car to the Pirelli tyres.
“The test in Canada went quite well and it was just an experimental trial run to verify if our simulation results were correct or not. We now plan to introduce that more extensively in the next few races.”
Further developments are planned for the next race to address the car’s weakness on tracks where aerodynamic efficiency is important, as was clear in Barcelona: “In Silverstone we will introduce quite an extensive new package, with many changes and this should improve the car quite considerably, making us more competitive.
“I hope this will be comprehensive enough to see us fighting for the win, but this is something we must wait to see once we get there.”
2011 European Grand Prix
Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo
Nixon
21st June 2011, 14:26
I think its too late for Ferrari to win any of the championships, but they might grab a win or two after Silverstine.
Nixon
21st June 2011, 14:28
Sorry Silverstone
Becken
22nd June 2011, 4:48
Dont worry. They used to call it ‘Silvastone’ in the 80’s
;)
Klaas
21st June 2011, 14:37
It all depends on how much the new rule changes will debilitate RedBull. From the lastest interviews I saw that both Ferrari and McLaren pin their hopes on the EBD ban. As last season proved – anything is possible in F1.
RIISE (@riise)
21st June 2011, 16:16
I Agree with Klaas, the rule change will be a turning point for all the teams.
If Ferrari can get back to winning starting with Valencia I can see Fernando challenging for the title. However it’s not as close as it was last year. Sebastian isn’t making the same mistakes as 2010 and is consistently in the top 2. Plus Mark isn’t in any position to take points off him which is what made last year so close. Well, that and McLaren running stronger (In relation to Seb anyway) than they are this year.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
21st June 2011, 17:56
Forget Red Bull, they have struggled to beat McLaren this year. And the clampdown on the diffusers is going to hurt them more than McLaren.
I would bet against Ferrari even winning one race without others suffering bad luck.
Spaulding (@spaulding)
22nd June 2011, 14:02
What race series are you watching?
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
21st June 2011, 21:10
Same. I keep thinking back to 2009 with Button/Brawn GP. However, the RB7 is a much better rounded machine than the BGP-01 was.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
21st June 2011, 14:39
Strangely enough, they’ve been saying this for the past four races …
BasCB (@bascb)
21st June 2011, 15:05
It does seem to get a bit like hearing Schumacher talk about getting back into a rithm and Brawn finally understanding the car all the way since start of 2010.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
21st June 2011, 15:15
Or Williams and their aggressive car designs.
Play a different tune for once, guys!
hohum
21st June 2011, 17:13
How about; Too bad they cannot play to their strength and improve their engine performance.
Mark Hitchcock (@mark-hitchcock)
21st June 2011, 18:42
Oh the irony!
Electrolite
22nd June 2011, 0:39
Haha. In next season, when they launch the FW34 they should just be like ‘yeah well this year we haven’t really tried that much, just copied a few other bits, pretty Plain Jane to be honest…’
BasCB (@bascb)
21st June 2011, 15:04
I would really like them to have a say in the Championship or at least fight for race wins. But it will mostly be a combination of Vettel messing up / suddenly having technical problems in the race and Ferrari really getting their own car together.
Ads21 (@ads21)
21st June 2011, 15:07
It took a miracle for Alonso to get back into contention last year from ‘only’ 47 points behind after Silverstone, coming back from nearly twice as far back is just completely implausible. As much as I’d love to be proved wrong there’s just no way Alonso can still win the title.
Fixy (@)
21st June 2011, 17:25
+1
Ella
22nd June 2011, 0:41
+2
I’ve never been much of an optimist but unless there are some extraordinary circumstances that somehow completely derail the redbull domination and catapult ferrari into winning consecutive races (and keep mclaren behind them) then i can’t see anything changing. I mean you never know… but the way Vettel is driving… it’s looking impossible.
Still, their perseverance is to be admired.
Todfod (@todfod)
22nd June 2011, 9:26
Spot on. +3
Icthyes (@icthyes)
21st June 2011, 15:14
You’ve got to love the optimism at least.
Valencia isn’t enough like Monaco for Alonso to show his skill and has very little in common with Canada.
With the double DRS though, maybe Ferrari can orchestrate some F1 ballet and continuously swap positions for some lap time ;)
RIISE (@riise)
21st June 2011, 16:21
I would to see a team use DRS efficiently in that way to chase down lap times. However Felipe will never stay within 1 second of Fernando.
Fixy (@)
21st June 2011, 17:29
I’d like it too, so that Massa can overtake Alonso a bit! There would be 2 overtakes per lap though, a lot!
RIISE (@riise)
21st June 2011, 18:52
It could be like the ultimate rubber band effect.
JCost (@jcost)
21st June 2011, 16:26
I do think it’s a long shot for Ferrari but they still can play an important role on making both championships more interesting. McLaren seems to be competitive and if Hamilton and Button start winning races consistently and Ferraris are good enough to take Vettel off the podioum for 3 or 4 races, we will have another nail-biting finale this year.
RIISE (@riise)
21st June 2011, 18:55
Well Ferrari aren’t going to abandon the car until at least Hungary. Especially with the way last year went. There’s still the chance Red Bull may drop off the pace although not to the degree that Brawn did.
hohum
21st June 2011, 17:21
As illustrated in the story of the 81 win in Spain by JV. Ferraris engineering strength lies in their engines.If we allow the engines to become irrelevant in F1 by strangling development and make it all about aerodynamics it will be goodbye Ferrari, hullo Boeing.
hohum
21st June 2011, 17:25
Should be GV. of course.
Fixy (@)
21st June 2011, 17:30
It’s a bit of time the Ferrari isn’t the fastest car in straight-line, sadly.
RIISE (@riise)
21st June 2011, 19:03
Mercedes have been the best engines for a while now.
hohum
21st June 2011, 22:00
Maybe, but how do you know FI are fast down the straights but don’t have much downforce, RB are slow down the straights but loads of downforce Ferrari seem to have one or the other depending on set up so it’s a little inconclusive and Ferrari can’t do anything about it because of the regs.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
21st June 2011, 21:28
I feel foolish for having predicted Alonso to win the title this year ;)
Can’t see it this year, Ferrari.
Electrolite
22nd June 2011, 0:42
You weren’t foolish dude :) Back in February/March it was a completely reasonable prediction. Now however, maybe foolish yes :P
Ella
22nd June 2011, 0:45
I think quite a few people thought Ferrari would continue where they left off. Guess not; they have the driver (who, ironically, is making fewer errors than last year and is in a considerably worse championship position than this time last year) they just need to give him the car. Easier said than done.
Maybe next year.
Romesh82 (@romesh82)
22nd June 2011, 3:46
Think ‘Electrolite’ is spot on. Back in Feb & March to predict Alonso to win the title can be justified. …
Romesh82 (@romesh82)
22nd June 2011, 3:51
Dude You have predicted only considering the driver’s talent. Alonso probably the best driver in the grid may be with Vettel. Its all have to do with the Pathetic Ferrari F150 italia. You should not be shamed of your self given Alonso this much of a good job with a horrible car ….
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
22nd June 2011, 7:15
Thanks folks! Agree with you all :)
wasiF1
22nd June 2011, 2:54
I think from Silverstone we will know who is better then whom, whether the revised rules changes gives any advantage to any car or disadvantage to other only time will say.
PeriSoft
22nd June 2011, 3:06
Are there four races in the season that aren’t critical to the championship?
Ergh. It always bugs me when guys say stuff like, “Every point counts from now on!” …no, airhead! Every point counted from the beginning! It doesn’t matter when you score them!
Kind of like Jenson Button cleaning the floor with the field for the first half of the season, and then having a tough fight… in that order, he’s reviled for being a failure and ‘coasting to the championshop’. But if he’d had a tough first half and dominated thereafter, he’d be a hero for turning the season around.
The championship doesn’t care when you scored a point. If you lose by one point in the last turn of the last race, and lose the championship, you didn’t lose the championship at the last turn – you lost it every time you failed to score more than you did – say, the third place at Valencia that nobody noticed, or the puffed motor in Australia that was forgotten because so much of the season was still to come.
Counting, people. Learn it. Love it. Live it.
HounslowBusGarage
22nd June 2011, 9:45
True. Harsh, but true.
McLarenFanJamm
22nd June 2011, 12:07
That’s my COTD
Romesh82 (@romesh82)
22nd June 2011, 3:40
Constructors Championship is defineatly out of their reach specially with Massa as the second driver.
Drivers Championship may be with in their grasp. But will be be hard for them to do it . As RIISE has mentioned Vettel is not making mistakes as in 2010 and no DNFs due to car problem.. so will be extreamly hard for Alonso to fight for the Championship as in 2010
MattHT (@mattht)
22nd June 2011, 23:31
I actually think they will improve a lot, but still can’t really see them winning a race for a while yet. Just glad to see Massa showing glimpses of form after so long – I think the old Felipe being back on his game is about as much as Ferrari can hope to gain from now on, barring miracles involving RBR and Mclaren crashing all the time!