07/08/2011
NEWS STORY
Stefano Domenicali has revealed that Ferrari is on the verge of focussing all its attention on its 2012 car.
In the last four races, the Maranello outfit has taken 114 points, only 14 less than Red Bull as the Austrian outfit appears to lose ground to its Italian rival (and McLaren).
However, while the legendary Italian team hasn't entirely given up on a late season revival similar to its astonishing come back in the latter half of 2010, Domenicali admits that the time is fast approaching when next year must become the focus.
"At the start of September, we will concentrate solely on next year, because we have already defined all the updates for the 150° Italia, at least up until mid-October," he told reporters at Wrooom Summer 2011.
"Sure, if something was to change, then we would react accordingly," he added. "In fact, apart from the area that concerns the exhausts, on 23 August, the Technical Working Group should shed some light on all the grey areas, the regulations are practically unchanged and therefore, development on today's car can also be useful for next year."
Looking back on the season to date, he said: "If I had to score our season so far, I would mark it a 6+, which represents the mid-point between the terrible start and a great fight back that we saw in the second part.
"I expect we will continue down this route which has seen Fernando Alonso score more points than any other driver in the last four races," he continued, "all the way to the end of the season.
"Our aim is to win as much as possible and to have a car that is competitive at the highest level. Let's not forget that, last year, while fighting all the way to the end, we were still behind Red Bull in terms of performance. We want to close the gap, which has already been considerably reduced if not almost wiped out in the last few races."