Ferrari cautious about F10's pace
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali remains cautious about Ferrari's prospects in 2010
Also In The News
|
By Matt Hallam. |  |
Monday, 08, Feb 2010 10:21
By Adam Leveridge
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said he remains cautious and realistic about the team's performance during the first pre-season test in Valencia.
During the 2008/09 winter period, Ferrari took a wrong turn with development of their car under the radically revised aerodynamic regulations and a new order was established in F1, with Brawn GP and Red Bull boasting the quickest packages.
Having only secured a single victory and with Felipe Massa temporarily out of the car because of the life-threatening injuries he sustained during qualifying for the Hungarian grand prix, Ferrari took the decision to stop development of their 2009 car in an attempt to get the jump on their rivals this year.
This move appears to have paid off for Ferrari, as both Massa and Fernando Alonso stormed to the top of the times during all three days of testing at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia last week - beating the likes of McLaren and Mercedes GP, who have been hotly-tipped to be in the championship fight this season.
However, Domenicali doesn't want to get carried away and remains cautious about the F10's strong start to pre-season testing.
"There are no miracles in F1: if you want to be fast you have to work hard for months and months and then you'll meet your competitors, who have as much capacities and are as motivated as you," said Domenicali.
"We can't take anything for granted and we shouldn't delude ourselves by indications, which could be completely misleading.
"We can't work like in football where two good or bad results are enough to pass from riches to rags or vice versa."
Domenicali added he is happy with the reliability of the F10, as Massa and Alonso completed more than 1,400 kilometres over the three days without a single technical hiccough.
"In Valencia we also started to get to know the new Bridgestone tyres' behaviour related to the petrol load," said Domenicali.
"But the data is still absolutely relative: this track is not particularly demanding on the tyres and the temperatures weren't the ones we'll have during the season's first three races."