26/08/2008
NEWS STORY
Ferrari is working with no respite. By this morning, the engineers who were on track at Valencia on Sunday, were already in meetings with their Maranello-based colleagues to carry out the usual post race debrief, during which the key points of the weekend were re-examined with a view to deciding on what action should be taken.
President Luca di Montezemolo also took part in the meeting, before another meeting with the team's senior management to discuss all aspects of the current situation. Montezemolo expressed his satisfaction with a convincing win for Felipe Massa, on the occasion of his one hundredth Formula 1 race, all of them spent at the wheel of cars powered by a Ferrari engine, a driver who has truly grown up under the sign of Maranello. The Valencia victory also coincided with Bridgestone's two hundredth race in the blue riband category of motor sport: the Japanese company supplied Ferrari for 88 of its total of 207 wins.
Initial analysis of the engine fitted to Kimi Raikkonen's car confirmed the breakage of a con rod, a similar failure to that which caused his teammate to retire whilst leading the Hungarian Grand Prix. Furthermore, the engineers were aware of a potential risk in general terms with the 056 engine fitted to Kimi's car, which was on its second race, given that the con rods were part of the same batch used on Felipe's engine. Changing the engine on Kimi's car would have seen the Finn start from far down the grid at a track where it appeared that overtaking was impossible, proving it's not enough to bring Formula 1 to a street circuit in a fantastic location to produce spectacular racing.
From today, the team is back on track. Andrea Bertolini will give the F2008 its first outing at the Monza circuit, using the second of four "joker" days available to the Formula 1 teams as part of the testing regulations.
Felipe Massa will take over from the Italian on Wednesday and Thursday, with Kimi Raikkonen bringing this intensive test session to a close on the track that hosts the Italian Grand Prix on 14th September.