Ferrari Faces a Make or Break Conundrum

Felipe Massa

The ride in dragon land turned out to be yet another disaster for the beleaguered Ferrari. The conventionally fruitful Chinese Grand Prix saw Ferrari crashing to a new low. Ferrari is besieged with the worst ever crisis in the post Schumi / Todt / Brawn era. Having enjoyed unparalleled success with the trio, the almost orphaned Maranello outfit is plagued with unprecedented hiccups (goof ups). This is akin to the Ferrari in the post Villeneuve (read Gilles here) / Scheckter era.

With the rise of Brawn, Red Bull Racing, Toyota – the minnows of yester years, Ferrari is faced with a conundrum of a lifetime. It has reached a stage where it needs to decide pragmatically whether to continue their crusade this year or forget this year and seek redemption next.

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicalli, although concerned is not yet ready to throw in the towel. Raikkonen is dubiously skeptical. Massa in the meantime who had a realistic chance of a podium finish in Shanghai has called for the team to rally around the F60. Bahrain is not expected to bring in any miracle for Ferrari. They are expected to run the same set up, although they may bring back KERS for Sakhir.

The focus will obviously shift to greener pastures i.e. Europe which has traditionally witnessed teams’ resurgence. A market improvement is expected from Ferrari as well. The first European round in Barcelona will compel Ferrari to re-evaluate their options. The F60 will expect revivification with a twin (two-tier) diffuser at Catalunya.

Now, the F60 has been found wanting in a lot of aspects viz., KERS, aerodynamics and reliability. So just the diffusers alone would not necessarily bring in the desired results. These misgivings apart, Ferrari have been struggling with pace as well. Kimi Raikkonen was walloped by Sebastian Buemi (Toro Rosso) & Fernando Alonso (Renault) in supposedly slower, shoddily handling cars.

Call it complacency, lack of anticipation or failure of succession planning, seeing Ferrari in such a dismal state is distressing. Hope their revival is soon and sustainable.