While announcing they'll revive the Kinetic Energy Recovery System for the Bahrain race, Ferrari have confirmed they'll make their final decision on the 2009 campaign after the Spanish Grand Prix. With most of the teams expected to bring several updates to their 2009 packages for the series' European debut this season (including Ferrari), the team is still hoping for a positive turn of events. Nonetheless, if the Spanish Grand Prix won't bring anything new to the table in terms of performance, the Italian squad is likely to abandon all hope for the remainder of the year.
“I think for sure we will see after Spain where we are. In that period we will see really what can be the situation, so when we come back to Europe basically,” said team principal Stefano Domenicali when talking to the Shanghai media after the Chinese Grand Prix.
Ferrari have come up with several changes to their aerodynamic package in Shanghai, but none of them have boosted the F60s' performances on track. Renouncing KERS did not prove very smart either, as it actually affected the car's behavior on track. Kimi Raikkonen was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton's KERS-powered McLaren MP4-24 no less than 3 times through the course of the Sunday race, while eventually finishing 11th overall.
Felipe Massa did not have a very good weekend either, as his Ferrari performed poorly during the Saturday qualifying and suffered from an electrical problem during the Sunday race. Nevertheless, Domenicali insisted things could turn for the better in the weeks to come.
“I think we have to wait. We need to stay cool. It is not easy, I know, but we need to stay cool because there are too many things that can change very quickly,” said the Ferrari official.
Google News