Barcelona: Ferrari technical boss Pat Fry has serious doubts with his team efficiency in this year’s Formula One season and said that his team is unlikely to finish on the podium at the Australian GP, the inaugural race of the reason to be held later this month.
Fry conceded that their new car F2012 had failed to meet the expectations and would require working hard in Maranello to extract more performance out of the car before it gets too late.
“In the hunt for the podium in Melbourne? At the moment I would say no. We are disappointed with the performance level seen at these tests and I think we have a lot of work ahead of us,” Fry quoted in the official website of Ferrari.
“In testing, you can only make assumptions regarding what fuel loads the other cars are running and it will only be in Melbourne that we will get a clear answer as to whether we have to be very disappointed or just a little, how far we really are off the front runners and consequently how much ground we have to make up to get there.”
Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa have tried very hard at the pre-season tests to figure out the consistent level of performance from the F2012, could finish at the top only once. The new car full which saw some radical solutions including innovative front pull-rod suspension, both have found it a difficult charge to master. Ferrari also introduced a new exhaust position to boost rear down force during the mid of the testing, but it seems to have hindered rather than helping the progress.
“Clearly the decision relating to the exhausts that we took last week meant we took a few steps backwards in terms of development. How much? Difficult to say right now. We have been working on the current configuration for really just two weeks. We found a bit of performance but there’s no doubt that the original solution is the one that gives the most,” added Fry
“I think we can claw back, at best, at least 25 percent of the down force we had last year, even if we need to see what that costs us in fuel consumption and corner turn-in stability. At the moment it’s still causing us problems, but it’s the most obvious way to try and improve performance and increase aerodynamic downforce. We will continue to work on it, as indeed will all the others,” said Fry.
By Indian Sports News Network
