Formula One news

New issues to solve at Ferrari

The Ferrari team was glad to have discovered solutions to various problems over the weekend of the Spanish Grand Prix, with Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen clearly making best use of aerodynamic upgrades. The race also presented new challenges, however, not least a shortage of fuel which lead to Massa losing two places in the closing stages.

"We can take some satisfaction from this weekend but, at the same time, it has thrown up further concerns," admitted team principal Stefano Domenicali. "On the one hand we saw that the effort from recent weeks has born fruit in terms of improving the performance level of the car. Felipe was competitive at the highest level, as was confirmed on the clock - it's not by luck that we got the third fastest time in the race, which would have been far out of our reach in previous races this year."

A shortage of fuel during his final pit-stop left Massa coasting at the end of the race

Although Massa finished sixth to collect his first three points of the season, his race was hindered by a shortage of fuel in the closing stages which meant a loss of fourth and fifth positions to Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. In the second car, a tactical error in qualifying on Saturday left Kimi Räikkönen 16th on the grid before a fuel cell problem ground his F60 to a halt on lap 18.

"Once again, the downside comes from the reliability side," Domenicali continued. "Again, we had problems which forced Kimi to retire and cost Felipe two places in the final stages, having also robbed him of the chance of getting to the podium, which would have been well deserved. This is unacceptable for a team like Ferrari; we must all react to get back to our usual standard, as indeed we have partially managed on the performance side. There is much to do on all fronts and we will tackle it with our usual and absolute determination."

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