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Chinese GP 2009 - Ferrari’s Friday Press Release
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12:07 pm
April 17, 2009


jemela

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Felipe Massa - 12th: We are in a difficult situation on the technical front, but when one thinks of what happened to those who we are close to and in the daily life of the people of Abruzzo, everything else takes on a different perspective. I hope that having the Abruzzo nel cuore message on the cars, as requested by President Montezemolo, might help to make these people feel less alone. As for the track, I can say our fight for the championship is ever more compromised. Here we are also running without KERS and as a result, we are losing even more performance, in addition to not having as much aerodynamic downforce as the best cars. We must try and push as hard as possible on the development of the car, but we know it will be very hard to catch up. The only recipe for getting out of this difficulty is to work.

Kimi Raikkonen - 14th: The balance of the car isn’t bad and one doesn’t feel the lack of KERS. The point is that we are too slow compared to the teams currently at the top of the order. We must try and improve the car: at the moment, we are not able to fight for the title. We must not give up the fight because, with the whole team working hard, we can get back into a winning position. It’s not an easy time, but our group is strong and we know what needs to be done to get out of this situation. The softer tyre seems to work better than it did in Australia.

Stefano Domenicali: President Montezemolo was keen to give a sign of support for everyone who lived through this tragedy and we are proud for our cars to carry the name of a region of Italy which is very close to our hearts, especially at a time like this, commented Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Team Principal, Stefano Domenicali. As for today’s track activity, I can say it turned out much as we had expected. We will have to run a few races on the defensive and try and do the best we can. Clearly, without KERS, we lose a bit of performance and initial indications are that we are not seeing any improvement in the balance of a car that, let’s not forget, was designed to carry this system. We are in a difficult situation and we must try and stay calm and work hard on all fronts.

Chris Dyer: We worked mainly on evaluating the two types of tyre made available to us here by Bridgestone, in terms of Sunday’s race. Here, the softer tyre seems to work better to what we saw in Australia, while the harder one has performed as we had expected. We had no technical problems during the three hours of practice and we were able to evaluate new aerodynamic solutions, that, today, were fitted to Felipe’s car. Tomorrow, they will be used on both cars.


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12:41 pm
April 17, 2009


jemela

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Just had this update from the Kimi Fan Club too

It’s no secret that Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro is struggling to be competitive at the moment. However, Felipe Massa put this into perspective when, at the end of the first three hours of free practice for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, he pointed out that this was really nothing serious compared to what had happened to the victims of the earthquake that hit the Abruzzo region of Italy on the night after the Malaysian Grand Prix.

In fact both Felipe’s and Kimi’s Ferrari F60s carried decals with the message “Abruzzo in our hearts” as a gesture of support for the victims of the disaster and as publicity for a charity initiative set up to help the region. Our fellow Italian team, Scuderia Toro Rosso also carried a message of support, while Jarno Trulli wore the logo on his overalls.

On track, the Scuderia management and its drivers made no secret of the fact it is going through a difficult time: not having a diffuser similar to the ones the Paris Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday were legal on three other teams’ cars is just one contributing factor, while taking the difficult decision to run here without the KERS system that the team used at the two opening rounds, compounds the lack of performance, compared to the current front runners. Therefore, although Friday’s practice times are not always significant, the fact that Felipe and Kimi ended the day in twelfth and fourteenth places respectively is at least indicative of a less than optimum performance level.

The names at the top of the time sheet today are those we have come to expect this season. Winner of the two opening Grands Prix of the season, Jenson Button was quickest, with his team-mate Rubens Barrichello in third spot. Splitting the two Brawn GP cars is the Williams-Toyota of Nico Rosberg. Next up are the Red Bull Renault duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, the fastest of the “old style” diffuser cars, while Jarno Trulli completes the top six for Toyota .

One element that had concerned all teams before today’s sessions was the suitability of the two types of Bridgestone tyre, the Super-Soft and the Medium, the same as used in Melbourne. At the Australian venue, both had proved somewhat difficult to manage, but here, on the grippier Shanghai track surface, all seems to be well on the tyre front. Tomorrow afternoon’s qualifying session will no doubt give a clearer picture on this element of the package and on just how much of a challenge the Scuderia will be facing on Sunday.



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