Ferrari

[blacktulip]

From ITV sport

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali says he is “satisfied” with the performance of the squad’s F60 heading to Melbourne but concedes it still has to improve the reliability of the all-new car.

The defending world champion team has generally enjoyed a strong pre-season on the timesheet and was considered to be slightly ahead of a tightly-packed leading group before Brawn GP demonstrated stunning pace at Barcelona this week.

But while still showing solid pace at its final pre-season outing, three of Ferrari's four days in action were hit by reliability problems with a cooling leak on its KERS system and a hydraulic glitch two of the issues that disrupted its work.

Domenicali, who attended the Circuit de Catalunya to check on his team’s final Melbourne preparations, says it must get on top of these problems before the season-opener on March 29 so it doesn’t encounter the same setbacks that hampered its drivers’ championship bid last year.

[blacktulip]

We're satisfied with the level of our car as far as the performance is concerned.

“It's obvious that we still have some work to do and that we have to concentrate on its reliability.

“Last year we've seen how important reliability and the smallest details are: we have to work much harder in this direction.”

While Ferrari looks set to be among the teams fighting for victory in Melbourne, its perennial rival McLaren appears unlikely to be one of its main challengers after the Woking squad revealed on Friday that its MP4-24 was not yet fast enough to challenge for wins following troubled recent tests.

Domenicali says there had been little to choose between the leading group before Brawn GP’s “incredibly surprising” performance this week and he admits the rescued Brackley outfit is a real threat.

"I don't want you to think that I'm avoiding an answer, but it's more difficult than ever to say anything about the levels on the track,” he said.

“Until a couple of days ago there was a great equilibrium between the different teams – some expected and some a bit less – and then there was Brawn GP's exploit; their performance was incredibly surprising and they have to be watched with care.

“We think that we're part of the more competitive teams, but there are still many unknown factors to consider: we have to wait for Melbourne to get the answers."

Domenicali was also asked to state Ferrari’s position on the potentially brewing controversy over some teams’ interpretations of the revised 2009 technical regulations.