SHANGHAI – Beleaguered Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali says he and his team will stay cool under pressure after a terrible start to the season and will not make any decisions for at least two more races.
After failing to score a single point in three races and languishing alongside Force India at the bottom of the constructors’ championship, the defending champions are in danger of becoming a laughing stock.
In the wake of their third pointless contest in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, dominated by Red Bull and Brawn GP, Domenicali insisted Ferrari will not abandon their bid to defend their title without a fight.
But, he added, if results do not improve when the F1 circus returns to Europe and the team begins to race with a heavily revised car, they are ready to give up on the 2009 season and start planning for 2010 instead.
‘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. The priority number one is to move from zero points,’ he said.
Asked directly at what point Ferrari may decide to switch from working on recovering in 2009 to planning for 2010, he replied: ‘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.’
Ferrari’s flop in Sunday’s rain-hit race represented the team’s worst start to a Formula One season for 28 years since 1981.
Last week, the team led the protests against the ‘double decker’ diffuser used by the Brawn, Williams and Toyota teams this season at an appeal hearing, but lost, leaving the biggest teams in the sport playing catch-up.
Brawn on 36 points lead Red Bull on 19.5 in the teams’ title race while Jenson Button of Brawn tops the drivers’ standings with 21 ahead of his teammate Rubens Barrichello on 15 and Sunday’s victor Sebastian Vettel on 10.
Ferrari plan to run with the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) again in this weekend’s fourth race of the season in Bahrain, but hold out little hope of breaking into the leading group or taking a podium finish.
– Nampa-AFP
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