Formula One news

Difficult race yields no points for Ferrari

Ferrari's second consecutive non-finish in the Australian Grand Prix summed up a disappointing and generally uncharacteristic start to the season for the Maranello team. Starting sixth and seventh, both drivers experienced dramatic races but eventually finishing their races in the garage.

"This was definitely not a start worthy of Ferrari," said Team Principal Stefano Domenicali. "We were lacking on the reliability front - with two cars forced to retire - and our performance was not up to the potential we had expected after our winter testing, as we struggled to manage the tyres."

Felipe Massa, who started sixth, struggled to get to grips with Bridgestone's latest products during the race. "We ran into trouble with the soft tyres, to such an extent that we had to pit early," the Brazilian runner-up of 2008 explained. "We then switched to a very aggressive strategy which, with hindsight, turned out to be the wrong one because shortly after the pit stop the safety car came out. I found myself third but, after the restart, had less than ten laps to try and pull far enough ahead of who behind me, but I had more fuel. At the second stop we filled it to the finish but then I was very slow, and finally had the problem which forced me to retire."

Former champion Räikkönen's afternoon included a spin into the wall between turns thirteen and fourteen, with ultimately ended his race. "It was my mistake," he admitted. "It was a shame as, considering what happened later, I could have finished second; we lost valuable points, but we will try and make up for it starting right away in Malaysia." Massa also knows the score, with just one week between the first two races: "Work, and work hard."

"Australia does not seem to have been a happy hunting ground for us these last few years," Domenicalli concluded. "The circuit is a bit unusual, where the pecking order is never too clear - it will be more evident in Sepang and we are well aware that, apart from one team that was untouchable today, there are numerous other strong competitors."

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