Publications
Partners
MELBOURNE, Australia – Ferrari resolved its reliability woes at the cost of speed as Fernando Alonso finished the 2014 Formula 1 season-opening race in Australia fifth. What’s worse, the Ferrari ace finished 3sec behind Nico Rosberg's race-winning Mercedes.
Team principal Stefano Domenicali said: "We achieved our objective in terms of reliability but the gap we need to make up, especially to Mercedes, was clear to see.
“The information we have gathered this weekend clearly points to the direction we must take and what areas need the most work. Our engineers know what the priorities are and which areas need the most immediate attention."
RELIABLE YET SLOW
Anybody expecting to see immediate sparks between Alonso and new team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who has returned to the team, would have been disappointed. Raikkonen, who started 11th after a crash in qualifying, finished eighth but both Ferrari drivers had reliability problems throughout the weekend.
Raikkonen, who won the race for Lotus in 2013, said: "We cannot be happy with the positions in which we finished. At least we got something out. It has been a very difficult weekend."
‘WE NEED TO DO BETTER’
Raikkonen was hit in the first corner by Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi and lost a place in the pits when he had to wait for Alonso ahead of him: "The car felt pretty OK at some points but then at some points it was a bit tricky. The only positive thing is that we ran the whole race and scored some points."
Double F1 champion Alonso was also searching for positives before the next race in Malaysiatwo weeks hence. He said: "We all had problems but both Ferraris crossed the line, a good effort from the team and a good achievement. On the other hand we finished 35sec behind leader Rosberg - we need to do better in Malaysia.
"But we are Ferrari, we are a strong team. I think these guys know what they are doing. After the first race you probably have a little bit better picture of which areas you need to improve the car.
"We need to analyse, we need to take care of every detail for Malaysia, and be a little bit stronger there."
Stay with Wheels24 for the 2014 Formula 1 season.
Team principal Stefano Domenicali said: "We achieved our objective in terms of reliability but the gap we need to make up, especially to Mercedes, was clear to see.
“The information we have gathered this weekend clearly points to the direction we must take and what areas need the most work. Our engineers know what the priorities are and which areas need the most immediate attention."
RELIABLE YET SLOW
Anybody expecting to see immediate sparks between Alonso and new team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who has returned to the team, would have been disappointed. Raikkonen, who started 11th after a crash in qualifying, finished eighth but both Ferrari drivers had reliability problems throughout the weekend.
Raikkonen, who won the race for Lotus in 2013, said: "We cannot be happy with the positions in which we finished. At least we got something out. It has been a very difficult weekend."
‘WE NEED TO DO BETTER’
Raikkonen was hit in the first corner by Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi and lost a place in the pits when he had to wait for Alonso ahead of him: "The car felt pretty OK at some points but then at some points it was a bit tricky. The only positive thing is that we ran the whole race and scored some points."
Double F1 champion Alonso was also searching for positives before the next race in Malaysiatwo weeks hence. He said: "We all had problems but both Ferraris crossed the line, a good effort from the team and a good achievement. On the other hand we finished 35sec behind leader Rosberg - we need to do better in Malaysia.
"But we are Ferrari, we are a strong team. I think these guys know what they are doing. After the first race you probably have a little bit better picture of which areas you need to improve the car.
"We need to analyse, we need to take care of every detail for Malaysia, and be a little bit stronger there."
Stay with Wheels24 for the 2014 Formula 1 season.