Todt confident Ferrari can still succeed 07 Aug 2007
Ferrari team principal Jean Todt has admitted he was disappointed with the Italian team’s performance at last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, but remains confident they still have enough in reserve to challenge McLaren’s lead of the championship.
“It's complicated,” Todt told Ferrari’s official website. “Saying that, you know it makes a very intense and interesting challenge. If we are able to be on the podium with both drivers, both cars, for the six remaining Grands Prix of the season, which is possible, I still think that we have a chance to achieve what we want.”
Although Kimi Raikkonen garnered eight points from his second-place finish in Budapest, team mate Felipe Massa only managed to cross the line in 13th, after paying the price for a poor qualifying session on Saturday. Massa failed to make it through to Q3 after a pit-stop mix-up and started the Hungarian event from 14th.
“In Q2, we are always on low fuel and during Felipe's attempt to qualify for Q3, he made a little mistake and we realised that he would not be qualified for Q3,” explained Todt. “We changed his tyres and once the tyres were changed, we realised that no fuel had been put in the car so it was simply a mistake in the procedure.”
Raikkonen also seemed to struggle on Saturday and qualified in fourth after being edged out by the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld. When original pole-sitter Fernando Alonso was penalised, however, the Finn moved up the grid and eventually started the race from third.
“For Kimi it was much better,” Todt said. “We had a competitive car but we did not do the best job, for reasons we need to understand, in qualifying and we paid the price. It's not pleasing but you have to accept it.”
One positive for Todt, however, was Raikkonen’s pace on Sunday, which proved the F2007 was quick enough to compete with the McLarens. Throughout the race, the Finn was able to trade fastest laps with winner Lewis Hamilton and Raikkonen eventually set the quickest - a 1m 20.047 - on the final lap in Budapest.
With a break in testing until the Turkish Grand Prix, Ferrari now plan to concentrate their efforts on wind tunnel work.
