Assessment: Ferrari can’t seem to make it…

Thirty-six points, that’s what now separates the first from the last in the constructors’ championship between Brawn GP and Ferrari. Certainly, two double victories would suffice for the Scuderia, but Ross Brawn’s team would have to score no points, which is hard to imagine!

For now, the Shanghai GP has been a disaster for Ferrari as Massa retired once again due to reliability issues and Räikkönen finished far back in 12th position. His problem was focused on his tires.

Felipe Massa – Retirement

« Of course, I’m very disappointed and a bit upset, but my motivation is intact. We all need to work together to get out of this situation. The team is united and there is a real desire to do good things as quickly as possible. We need to quickly review the aerodynamics, but it’s also true that we need to solve our reliability issues. We want to win, but first and foremost, we need to finish the races. Today, I had a real chance to get on the podium. »

« I was third and had enough fuel. The car was fine except behind the safety car. Then, without warning, the throttle stopped working and the car became silent. I would like to tell our fans not to give up, it’s a difficult moment, but the championship is still long. »

Kimi Räikkönen – 12th:

« At the beginning, I wasn’t too bad, but then, after my stop, I lost grip and I was no longer able to move as fast as I wanted. Sometimes, the engine seemed to lose power, especially when I found myself far behind the other cars. It’s clear that the situation in the championship now seems very difficult. »

« We made mistakes and we are not fast enough. In Barcelona, where we will have new aerodynamic parts, we should be able to take back control. I am sure that we can be competitive enough to win again, but this work will take time. The team is motivated, I am sure of that. Now, it’s easy to criticize, but we know how to fix things. »

Stefano Domenicali – Team Principal:

« Today, we are very upset about what happened to Felipe [Massa]. He was having an incredible race, when an electrical problem stalled his engine. He was third and even though he had a lot of fuel, he was matching the pace of the fastest cars. He certainly would have finished the race on the podium. Kimi [Räikkönen] switched from a two-stop to a one-stop strategy. During his first stint with the initial set of tires, his pace was reasonable, but during the second stint, he constantly suffered from a lack of grip. »

« The shame is that, at a time when technically we are not the best, we didn’t even manage to take advantage of the situation. Now we turn our attention to the next race in Bahrain while being realistic: The car will be the same as it is here, even though we will look into the KERS again. In the meantime, we have to work to get the new aerodynamic components in Europe. »