Vairano test shows Ferrari pushing ahead with F10
After showing early promise with the F10's latest upgrades in practice, the team newcomer qualified just tenth at Spa-Francorchamps before being taken out on the first lap by Rubens Barrichello.
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| Ferrari F10 |
Ferrari then fitted intermediate tires that had to be changed shortly afterwards, before Alonso lost control over a curb and crashed.
"An Alonso flop. While Kimi Raikkonen always drove brilliantly at Spa, his successor slipped on a puddle," remarked the Milan-published Il Giornale.
The sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport said Ferrari's championship chances "are now gone".
But that's not the message being trotted out by the Maranello team's officials, and La Stampa reports that Ferrari is pressing ahead with development of the car.
In the coming days, a straight line test at Vairano is scheduled.
"In addition to reviewing solutions for Monza, engineers will try to understand why the innovations introduced at Spa-Francorchamps did not work as expected," said the La Stampa report.
Ferrari acknowledges it is running out of time.
"Everyone in Maranello is aware that if more ground is lost, it could compromise any chance of a comeback," said the team.
08/30/10 Ferrari are to conduct one of their permitted straight-line aerodynamic tests at Vairano following their “unsatisfactory" performance at Spa. The team said in a statement that the new parts introduced in Spa had not performed as expected and would get a ‘real-world’ test ahead of their home Grand Prix at Monza next week:
One can never count on new solutions that have never been track-tested before immediately delivering results: that has been the case several times this year for all the teams. On top of that, the changeable weather during Friday’s free practice certainly did not make the job any easier for the engineers.
With this in mind, as well as in order to test the aerodynamic configuration to be used in the Italian Grand Prix, there will an aero test at the Vairano straight over the next few days. After the debrief, Luca di Montezemolo had a meeting with team principal Stefano Domenicali, as well has having lengthy telephone conversations with Felipe and Fernando.
Giancarlo Fisichella drove one of the team’s cars when it ran at Vairano earlier in the year while developing its version of the F-duct.