Formula One news

'Ferrari behind after 2008 battle'

Ferrari's team principal has explained how part of the reason the Scuderia is lagging behind this year is that much attention was put towards last year's title attack, whereas other team were already fully focused on their 2009 development programmes.

"We've seen that some cars seem to have a great package," said Stefano Domenicali. "Some teams have had more time to develop their cars, so this is a logical situation at the moment; last year we were fighting with McLaren until the end and were fully concentrated on the fact that we wanted to win the title, and each team did win one, so that reflects the situation that resources are limited. You cannot have everything, so we did a lot of work on the 2008 design and that was normal at the time."

Domenicali remains positive, but is serious about the job in hand

Having scored no points in Melbourne, Ferrari's season has suffered another blow already this weekend as Felipe Massa found himself out of qualifying at the first possible moment, and starting 16th on the grid. "The only way is up, and that is the only way you have to do it," Domenicali continued. "Work, stay calm and concentrated - no more than that. However, if you ignore the double-diffuser story, which for sure benefits those cars using it, you can see what is going to happen." The Italian is referring to the fact that, were the diffuser cars removed from the grid, his driver Kimi Räikkönen would be third behind Webber and Kubica, with Alonso fourth.

The radical diffuser designs, to be discussed at the FIA's International Court of Appeal (ICA) on Tuesday 14 April, gives an advantage to the Brawn, Toyota and Williams teams of which rivals are not happy about. "For me, it is very clear that the teams that had the most time to develop the project now have an advantage," Domenicali added. "At the moment we need to concentrate on ourselves, to get the maximum performance out of what we can.

"We have to be very honest, though - at the moment we are not fighting with Brawn GP. We see the Red Bull car as very, very competitive as well as the Toyota and the BMW; that is the field we are facing now, and we need to be realistic with the situation we are facing today."

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