11/12/2010
NEWS STORY
Having trailed its rivals mid-season in 2010, Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali has admitted that the Maranello outfit needs to have a race winning contender right from the outset of next season.
Ironically, Ferrari did have a race winner at the start of 2010, Fernando Alonso - much in the style of Nigel Mansell - getting his career with the Maranello outfit off to a dream start courtesy of a win in Bahrain, his first outing for the Italian team.
However, from there on in the team began to lose its way and by Silverstone was 84 points behind Red Bull. Then, following the (PR) debacle that was Germany, the Maranello outfit mounted a revival which saw Alonso head into the final race of the season as championship leader and title favourite.
Speaking to the Gazzetta dello Sport at the Bologna Motor Show, Domenicali said the team must learn from its mistakes.
"When our Technical Director, Aldo Costa, spoke of extreme design, he wanted to spur all our engineers to push on the theme of innovation which, in Formula 1, means exploring all areas right up to the limits set by the regulations and I also hope that will be the case.
"It is a difficult challenge, because we operate in a very competitive environment: we know that in 2011 we will have to start off immediately with a car capable of winning, so that we are not always having to catch up, as was the case this year."
In reaction to speculation that there is to be an overhaul of the organisation over the winter, the Italian said: "We will make adjustments, but they will only be revealed at the right moment.
"From a technical point of view, we must try not to repeat the mistakes which occasionally led us to take a step backwards rather than forwards," he continued. "In order to succeed, we are working with alacrity and without let up. Next season will be very long and we cannot allow ourselves not to make the most of our potential at every race: in 2010, especially in the early stages, we missed opportunities to pick up valuable points and we paid heavily for that at the final reckoning."