Ferrari: The Priority is to Address the Problems
Kimi Räikkönen encountered some difficulties during the first free practice sessions of the Australian Grand Prix. For Stefano Domenicali, the priority must be to address and resolve them in order to move forward calmly.
If the day was far from catastrophic for Scuderia Ferrari, problems were nonetheless encountered—mainly by Kimi Räikkönen, particularly with the gearbox—and for Stefano Domenicali, the director of the Italian team, the priority is to resolve them.
« We must ensure that all problems that are not yet resolved—not just on Kimi’s side—are resolved or reviewed very quickly because the competition is very strong and the time we have ahead of us is not significant, » he stated, as reported by Autosport. « For me, the most important thing is to solve the problem very quickly, » he insists.
The question of the pilots’ driving style does not arise, but the team still has a lot of work to do to be ready: « The driver is not really the problem because I am sure that both drivers will be able to handle the situation in the best possible way, but there is still a lot of work to do. »
On the fact that Ferrari might not be among the most competitive cars, Domenicali believes that the Scuderia is primarily in a working phase: « What we need to do is continue working on what we know. We need to progress, and that’s the way to do it. Obviously, there are different things to test and try between the drivers, but it’s a normal part of our program. »
For him, the hierarchy is not yet entirely clear, and he expects changes starting tomorrow with the qualifications: From my point of view, maybe you will see that some teams were hiding a bit or had some issues. Tomorrow, the situation will be different.
As a reminder, Kimi Räikkönen finished the Free Practice 1 session in ninth position, 1.1 seconds behind Fernando Alonso, and Free Practice 2 in seventh place, seven-tenths behind his teammate.
