Michael Schumacher said Ferrari had “to improve in all areas” following his disappointing seventh-place finish at Sepang. The Scuderia might race its F2005 as soon as the next grand prix in Bahrain, but will the new car be competitive in two weeks’ time?
Michael Schumacher said Ferrari had “to improve in all areas” following his disappointing seventh-place finish on Sunday. The Scuderia might race its F2005 as soon as the next grand prix in Bahrain, but will the new car be competitive in two weeks’ time?
The seven-time world champion will be driving the F2005 for the first time at Mugello on Wednesday. The decision to race the new car, which was initially scheduled to make its race début at Barcelona, the fifth round of the championship, will be taken this week. However, team boss Jean Todt isn’t optimistic that the new car will enable Ferrari to close the gap to other teams in Bahrain.
Todt said on Monday that Schumacher’s seventh place in the Malaysian Grand Prix had increased Ferrari’s “motivation to react.”
“The race was a lot more difficult than we expected. It would be wrong to say that we are satisfied with the situation. It is not our standard and it is not what we want to do. Simply, we are not quick enough,” the Frenchman said.
“The whole package is not performing the way we want it to. There are a lot of reasons. I would say there’s a lack of aerodynamic efficiency, not enough grip on the car, and not enough traction. All that adds up and it makes a huge difference,” he added.
However, Todt refused to blame Bridgestone (all drivers ahead of Schumacher on Sunday were on Michelin tyres) for the team’s dismal showing at Sepang: “We are all in it together,” said Todt. “We were all involved in the success and we are all involved in the ‘unsuccess’. Bridgestone are fantastic partners and they remain fantastic even if we don’t perform well in two races.”
Todt was asked whether he was confident that the new car could make up the performance difference between Ferrari and frontrunners Renault. “No, not confident,” he said. “I am confident we will do everything we can to improve the situation and, you know, same drivers, same engineers, mechanics, same motivation.”
Would Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello’s opinion of the new car be a deciding factor regarding its early introduction?
“There will be many factors,” said Todt. “Of course, we are going to try to do something. You know, we were talking about stability and you can panic or you can try to react properly and we are going to try to act properly in this situation to achieve it.”
Meanwhile, Schumacher said Ferrari had the potential to turn around its fortunes in a very short period: “Our team has all the attributes to do this (become competitive again). Now we have to work hard and we know what we have to apply ourselves to. I don’t expect any big change in the next race in Bahrain, but I am certain that at Imola we will do fairly well.”
“I have often been in situations where I have no chance in a race and then win the one after. We are a well-balanced team and the championship is longer than ever and so lots of things can happen. Now we have to try our new car and then see how things work out,” the German added.