Ferrari have admitted they now plan to make significant changes to their 2009 car after the failure of their appeal against the rear diffusers used by the rival Brawn, Toyota and Williams teams.
Ferrari, along with three other teams, had disputed the legality of the double-decker designs, thought to be worth at least half a second per lap. Now, after the FIA’s International Court of Appeal (ICA) gave the designs the all-clear, the world champions say they have no choice but to modify the F60.
“Unfortunately this decision forces us to intervene on fundamental areas of the car’s design in order to be able to compete on an equal footing with some of the teams from a point of view of the technical regulations,” said team principal Stefano Domenicali. “And that will take time and money.”
The Court’s findings come as another blow to Ferrari, who have had a torrid start to their 2009 season, with neither Felipe Massa nor Kimi Raikkonen scoring in the first two races. In a bid to turn things around, the Italian team have already restructured their operations ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix and the diffuser verdict now brings even more work.
“We will now double our efforts to get the team back to the highest level of competitivity,” added Domenicali, who saw Massa and Raikkonen finish second and third respectively behind McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in Shanghai last year.
Source - The Official F1 Site
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