Ferrari not ruling out writing off '09

Grim.

from autosport.com

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali says the Italian team may switch its development focus onto the 2010 car as early as next month if its fortunes do not improve dramatically in the next few races.

The Maranello-based outfit has failed to score a point in the first three races of the season, its worst start to a campaign since 1981, and is now facing a very tough challenge to get itself back in the championship hunt.

Speaking at Shanghai on Sunday night, Domenicali refused to rule out the possibility of the team abandoning the development push on its 2009 car if matters do not improve when a double-decker diffuser version of its F60 is raced for the first time at the Spanish Grand Prix.

When asked at what point the team would decide whether to start concentrating on the 2010 car, Domenicali said: "I think for sure we will see after Spain where we are. In that period we will see really what can be the situation - so when we come back to Europe basically."

Although much has been made of the advantage that the 'diffuser gang' of Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota have enjoyed in the first races of the season, Domenicali does not believe that copying their rear-end concept will be the whole answer to Ferrari's woes.

"No. The situation is much more complicated than that," he said. "That device will give you a benefit. But it would be wrong to believe that it is the only key. We have seen, for example, the Red Bull car has done a really great job.

"They had more time, they switched their project much earlier than us and that is the reality and we need to consider it. The other thing that we have to understand well is that today in certain conditions, look at the first part of the race, our car was not too bad at all. So we need to understand a lot of things."

Domenicali added that he would not be forced into a panic about Ferrari's situation, or revise the team's targets for the season.

"I think we have to wait," he said. "We need to stay cool. It is not easy, I know, but we need to stay cool because there are too many things that can change very quickly. The priority number one is to move from zero points."

vectra

Makes me wonder where will this leave Kimi next year as the team were expecting him to be rekindled this season.
They cannot blame him surely?

amacachi

vectra wrote: »

Makes me wonder where will this leave Kimi next year as the team were expecting him to be rekindled this season.
They cannot blame him surely?

As I'm sure you know it costs Ferrari no more to have Raikkonen to drive for them than any other driver, and they'll see which driver is giving them the better results/feedback over the season. Wouldn't be surprised to see Kimi quit, was half-expecting him to do it last season tbh.

vectra

amacachi wrote: »

As I'm sure you know it costs Ferrari no more to have Raikkonen to drive for them than any other driver, and they'll see which driver is giving them the better results/feedback over the season. Wouldn't be surprised to see Kimi quit, was half-expecting him to do it last season tbh.

I thought he was one of ( if not the ) highest paid drivers on the grid??

Sometimes I would like to see the old Kimi back but to be honest..other times i think he is just gone to the stage of " Give me my salary, I want to go to sleep" I think 20 to 27 is the age for this sport now.
Young guns go for it

amacachi

vectra wrote: »

I thought he was one of ( if not the ) highest paid drivers on the grid??

Sometimes I would like to see the old Kimi back but to be honest..other times i think he is just gone to the stage of " Give me my salary, I want to go to sleep" I think 20 to 27 is the age for this sport now.
Young guns go for it

Think he is the highest paid driver but it comes direct from sponsors, Ferrari don't see it. Sponsors aren't as interested in Massa and pay him less.

afatbollix

kimi has all ready written off this season... i wont be suprised if we dont see him in his shorts more offen...

2011

kimi has all ready written off this season

+1
But why???
F1 drivers should not have this attitude. It is defeatist. Schumacher would never ever give up.

vectra

2011 wrote: »

Schumacher would never ever give up.

Different era
different car

thegoth

vectra wrote: »

Different era
different car

Different man
Better attitude

vectra

thegoth wrote: »

Different man
Better attitude

Attitude does not make a car go faster

Biro

vectra wrote: »

Attitude does not make a car go faster

Attitude makes a good sports person into a champion. Schumacher was in a different class to Kimi in terms of attitude. He and Brawn turned Ferrari from a mess to a dominating team. Kimi shows up and sometimes he lets his talent do the talking, wins and goes home. Other times he shows up, dawdles around the circuit and goes home. Either way he goes home after he's done.

EvilMonkey

Its a disgrace they Ferrari or any team are talking about abandoning the season already, so what if they build a car for next season and it still isn't fast enough? Even if they think they cant win they should be trying to finish as high as possible. Their attitude recently has been terrible(maybe the caught it off kimi ), they seem to have this whole we lost the diffuser row so our season is ruined sulk going on they should just get on with it.

enzo7

totally agree im a ferrari fan and would be very disappointed if they abandened this year, ok the championship is slipping away but there is alot left to fight for getting in the top 5 it def something to aim for. they would never mention giving up in schumachers day because he was a totally diff driver (a) he never gave up (b) he had the talent to pull results outa the bag,kimi doesnt. kimi on his day is a good as any driver out there but those day are 2 few and far between. attitude doesnt make you a great champion but neither does talent alone. you need both. i think if they could get alonso for nxt season it would be bye bye kimi. i dont tink they would sack massa over kimi as massa has a far better attitude plus he has proven last season he can win races and fight for championships. i know you have to keep the sponsors happy but alonso would be a far bigger draw than kimi.

muckwarrior

I really can't see the logic in writing off this season.

It made plenty of sense last year when the cars were basically end of life due to the new regulations, so any knowledge gained by developing the current car would have been useless for building the new one. However next year (as far as I know) there are no major aero changes so surely any knowledge gained by developing the current car would be invaluable in designing next year's one

Surely they need to figure out what they've done wrong before they can put it right!

smooch71

I'm a huge fan of Kimi but I think he' s the Berbatov of Ferrari.

i.e A lazy bastard.

It was funny seeing him having his ice cream and coke after Malaysia though!

I'd love to see Alonso in the red car in 2010, it's a rumour that's been floating around for a while and he's a driver that, like Schumacher, doesn't give up no matter what he's driving.

vectra

Biro wrote: »

He and Brawn turned Ferrari from a mess to a dominating team.

No they did not
Dont forget
Rory Byrne
Jean Todt
All together they were the "Dream team"
Schumacher's attitude did not turn the team around.

Sudden Change of Plan for Ferrari

The Ferrari team refuses to give in on this season, after their worst start for 28 years has seen the Italian team score no points from the first three races.

STORY HERE:cool:

amacachi

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I dont see how its a disgrace? Its called cutting your losses. Honda/Brawn GP did the exact same thing last year and look how it helped them this season. Ferrari could drop all devolpement/spending on the current car and concentrate on next season. It happens at all levels of motorsport, why bother throwing money at a car that may only end up being a mid-table runner, where you could cut your losses and get a heads up for next season.

Exactly.

enzo7

"Schumacher's attitude did not turn the team around".



it was prob the biggest factor if it werent for schumachers attitude to racing, testing and never giving up!!! neither brawn or byrne would have joined ferrari ,they have both said the reason they signed was it ment working with schumacher again. why do you think they wanted to work with him again because he was a great champion and that was because of his attitude.

do you think rory byrne would have come out of retirement and moved half way across the world to work with kimi??

i agree they were the dream team and they won thoses championships together but schumacher was the glue that kept them together.

i agree with ferrari cutting there losses and looking to nxt season but not after 3 races!! give it mid season anyway.

vectra

enzo7 wrote: »

they were the dream team and they won thoses championships together .

Exactly my point
Ferrari no longer have that added bonus

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I dont see how its a disgrace? Its called cutting your losses. Honda/Brawn GP did the exact same thing last year and look how it helped them this season. Ferrari could drop all devolpement/spending on the current car and concentrate on next season. It happens at all levels of motorsport, why bother throwing money at a car that may only end up being a mid-table runner, where you could cut your losses and get a heads up for next season.

Agreed
Ferrari have already admitted it could cost them up to and beyond 20 Million to re-design their car to include a diffuser device which they have also said this is not the sole factor of gaining speed.
Why throw 20 Million away when it may not work as good as planned and still most likely never catch up
On the other hand
I think they are slapping the FIA's wrists for making legal the diffusers .
if enough teams stopped development now then this season would get fairly boring for lots of fans... Could result in a lot of half empty tracks and result in huge losses to uncle Bernie and co,

amacachi

vectra wrote: »

I think they are slapping the FIA's wrists for making legal the diffusers .
if enough teams stopped development now then this season would get fairly boring for lots of fans... Could result in a lot of half empty tracks and result in huge losses to uncle Bernie and co,

But sure there's only ever 3/4 teams in with a chance of winning a race anyway.

EvilMonkey

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I dont see how its a disgrace? Its called cutting your losses. Honda/Brawn GP did the exact same thing last year and look how it helped them this season.

Not after 3 races, so did BMW look where they are now?

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Ferrari could drop all devolpement/spending on the current car and concentrate on next season. It happens at all levels of motorsport, why bother throwing money at a car that may only end up being a mid-table runner, where you could cut your losses and get a heads up for next season.

Because they are getting constructors money if they aren't going to compete and use the remaining races as glorified test sessions they shouldn't get any money.
Ferrari dont have a right to only compete for first place they are supposed to be a racing team and should compete to the best of their ability.
Their is no reason why they cant do both, this is just an excuse to give when they under perform.
Like someone else said their is no significant changes for next season money spent this year will give them valuable R&D for next year anyway.
If everyone in a similar position as Ferrari did the same then there would be 3 - 4 teams seriously competing while the rest work on next years car.

enzo7

ok i agree with you in they were the dream team and they won it together, but my point was it was schumachers atitude to racing that enabled them to become the dream team ie convinced byrne brawn ect. to get on board. so in away it was schumachers atitude that turned ferrari around.

i dont think it completly kimis fault there in this mess now ,but last yr when the car was good he was no way near the level expected from a ferrari driver, i belive the reason massa was so much better than him was he has a far better atitude.

amacachi

EvilMonkey wrote: »

Not after 3 races, so did BMW look where they are now?

Yeah, but logically the more time spent on a car, the better chance it has of doing well. Sometimes it'll still be a pup obviously, but leaving it all to the last minute will require some serious moment of inspiration. :P

EvilMonkey

amacachi wrote: »

Yeah, but logically the more time spent on a car, the better chance it has of doing well. Sometimes it'll still be a pup obviously, but leaving it all to the last minute will require some serious moment of inspiration. :P

I agree and Ferrari were the first to unveil their car (obviously development didn't stop then) but the cars next year wont be that much different. I can understand slowing development and concentrating on next years car at the end of the season, last 3-4 races but not after 3.

2011

2011:

F1 drivers should not have this attitude. It is defeatist. Schumacher would never ever give up.

Vectra:

Different era
different car

Schumacher would have had that attitude in any era. He would fight tooth and nail for a single championship point. Even when he was stuck in the gravel trap he would get the marshels to push him back out on to the track and worry about the rules later. No matter what the odds were he would never give up.

That is a true champion. Does Kimi have this ambition?? No. As a Ferrari fan I am very disappointed. I hope Kimi knows that too!

thegoth:

Different man
Better attitude

+ 1

enzo7

agree with the last 2 post, scumacher never gave up on a season until the maths said it was done. for any team weather there at the front of the grid or the back should not even consider giving up on the season after 3 races!! as someone else mentioned the cars are going to be similar nxt season so they will need the difusser nxt season too so why not try and develop it for this yr and say 5/6 races from the end of season it the championship is a complete lost cause then look to developing 2010 car and improving the difusser ect on the new car.

vectra

amacachi wrote: »

But sure there's only ever 3/4 teams in with a chance of winning a race anyway.

Agreed
but
if Ferrari and some other big tema followed suit
How many fans do you think would lose interest??
Dont tell me that Red Bull or Brawn would have as many

2011 wrote: »

2011:

Vectra:

Schumacher would have had that attitude in any era. He would fight tooth and nail for a single championship point. Even when he was stuck in the gravel trap he would get the marshels to push him back out on to the track and worry about the rules later. No matter what the odds were he would never give up.

As i said already
In a better car, I remember he got pushed out of the gravel trap.
Had he been almost a lap down and no hope of any points at any stage do you thing he would have honestly stayed at ferrari??

I would seriously doubt it.

afatbollix

vectra wrote: »

Agreed
but
if Ferrari and some other big tema followed suit
How many fans do you think would lose interest??
Dont tell me that Red Bull or Brawn would have as many

I would seriously doubt it.

every one loves the under dog so braun and redbull have prob alot of fans right now...

they will all suport one team but would rather the underdog win than one of the other bigger teams as they are the biggest rivals..

enzo7

yes he so would hav stuck with ferrari correct me if im wrong but didnt he stick with them after 2006!!

im sorry but schumacher was the greatest driver ive had been lucky enough to see race, he had a massive talent but also if he set his mind to something he didnt give up till it was completed the word give up wasnt in his vocabulary, he spent 5 yr trying to win that title he could have so easily walked away after a yr or 2 straight into a maclaren seat but he didnt. i know i mentioned the dreamteam b4 but it wouldnt hav worked if he hadnt motivated and pushed that team like they had never been b4. kimi cant motivated himself not to mention an entire team, i would love if he walked away then we might get someone to actually wants to be a racing driver. the thing is i dont dislike kimi i just dont like him in a ferrari.

vectra

enzo7 wrote: »

correct me if im wrong but didnt he stick with them after 2006!!
.

Hahha
He would be some fool to walk away with the salary he gets for showing his chin every now and then :rolleyes: