Daily Update Formula1 News

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo is confident his Formula 1 team can respond to its current difficulties, after joining a lengthy crisis meeting at Maranello on Tuesday.
The reigning constructors' champion has failed to score a point so far this season, and di Montezemolo says he has been left unimpressed by the way its campaign has begun.
However, following talks that lasted for two-and-a-half hours at Maranello today, he thinks the message has now got through to team members that the situation needs to be turned around quickly.
"It would be a euphemism to say people here were very angry, but these same people are also very determined to react," said di Montezemolo after the meeting.

"I brought with me a monk's hood to make everyone understand that we have to tackle this season with humility and made the point that I don't want to find us on some sort of TV comedy video programme after each race.
"Joking apart, I know that this group is known for its strong sense of pride and that will help us get out of this situation."
Although Ferrari remains convinced that its form has not been helped by the fact that three rival teams have been using a double-decker diffuser design, the team knows that further aerodynamic improvements are needed.
Di Montezemolo also made it clear that despite intense talks, the team was as unified as it had been under the Jean Todt era.
"Our discussions are held in the locker room, as was the case in the days of Todt and [Ross] Brawn, when we were going through particularly tough times," he said. "The team remains united and I have every confidence in it."
Although Michael Schumacher's role at the team has been the subject of intense speculation over the past few days, it is understood there was no discussion about his involvement during the meeting.
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Don’t for a moment imagine after the Australian Grand Prix that McLaren are going to get complacent, or that Ferrari have let their heads drop. Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo might have said, after engine failures stymied Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa in Melbourne: "It was a healthy dose of humility." But, he also said: "I'm looking forward to Malaysia when I expect to see the real Ferrari."

And new team principal Stefano Domenicali added: "The result speaks for itself. Unfortunately it was a dreadful weekend. Nothing went as planned, so it was difficult. But if you remember, in 2006 we had a similar start with the two non-finishes and we were able to catch up again.

"We weren't phenomenal guys before this race and we are not stupid after it, so we really need to analyse in all the details what has happened. And of course the main concern is to understand the reliability problems. We had two engines fail so this is the main issue to understand. But we need to stay cool, calm and concentrated. We need not be too emotional now because it's very easy to go down that route. We need to stay very rational."

McLaren never underestimate Ferrari, and are not expecting another relatively easy run in Sepang this weekend.

"Every Grand Prix team experiences difficult weekends," said team principal Ron Dennis, who will miss this race because of family commitments in England. "They have got a lot of depth and we are under no illusions that they will come back and will be very competitive in Malaysia and for the rest of the season. All we can do is try and stay focused on our own efforts and that is what we will do.”

The indications in Melbourne were that the two top teams have similar pace. What was also exciting, however, is that Nick Heidfeld’s best race lap for BMW Sauber, who finished second in Albert Park, was only three-tenths of a second off McLaren, and the same as Ferrari.

“We were very pleased with the way things went,” admits technical director Willy Rampf with a big smile. “We did not get the best from the cars on Friday, but we were happy with the set-ups on Saturday and I think that showed in our performance then, and in the race. But we are cautious. Sepang is a different kind of track to Melbourne, so we must wait and see how well it suits our cars.”

Nevertheless, don’t write off the chances of Heidfeld and front-row starting team-mate Robert Kubica, in their F1.08s.

Likewise, Williams are feeling very chipper after Nico Rosberg’s strong performance won him his first F1 podium. The FW30 looked very impressive last weekend, and Kazuki Nakajima also earned points to place the team second overall ahead of BMW Sauber. On the downside, Nakajima will be hamstrung by an automatic ten-place grid demotion at Sepang, a penalty for the Japanese driver colliding with another car in Melbourne.

Then there is Red Bull. Mark Webber got no chance to show what the RB4 could do in the race, and is hungry to correct that this weekend. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso is also out for further points. The Renault R28 may not yet be a front-runner that can challenge McLaren and Ferrari, but the Spaniard’s driving in Australia, especially when he overtook Raikkonen and Kovalainen in one swoop, served as a reminder that he has lost none of his skill or motivation.

“Sepang really is my favourite track,” the former champion says. “I took my first pole position there in 2003 with Renault, and I have won this race twice. It’s a circuit that I enjoy and I always tend to attack a little bit more.”

Renault’s executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, is not alone in believing that it will take the next two races before the true picture of 2008’s pecking order emerges in Spain.

The challenge of Sepang lies in its fast sweeping turns, especially Turns 4 through to 8, which demand a well-balanced chassis. Good traction is also important, especially on the exit of Turn 9, the tight left hander. The opening combination of Turns 1 and 2 is also a difficult challenge for the drivers, but they get compensated by Turn 14 which demands genuine skill with its tightening entry which is approached under braking.

The high ambient temperatures also place a premium on adequate cooling, and the track is tougher on tyres than Melbourne. Bridgestone’s offering in Malaysia will be the medium and hard compounds, as opposed to the soft and medium used in Australia. That, and the ban on traction control, will force drivers to look after their rear tyres, which already tend to wear quickly here. Throw in the changes to the electronic engine braking systems, which have tended to make the cars trickier to handle under braking, and we could have another race like Melbourne with drivers getting caught out by mistakes.

As a subtle warning to the opposition Dennis added, in reference to Lewis Hamilton after Australia: “He was very fresh, and he was very comfortable. And he was saving the engine. It was very easy! I think we have shown we have a very competitive car, so we will go to Malaysia with a very positive mood.”

reference :
formula1.com
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MARANELLO - A big change in HeadQuater of scuderia,but a big decision is fired Mr. Jean Todt, The french man replace by Amadeo Felisa.

It's very suprice Todt has in CEO is new but why he fired?. Todt be CEO Ferrari in Oktober 2006, after he succes in Principal Team Ferrari.

Now ferrari structure is Luca di Montezemolo, Piero Ferrari, Jean Todt, Amedeo Felisa, Alfredo Altavilla, Diego della Valle, Christopher Gent, Enrico Lippi, Sergio Marchionne, Paolo Monferino, Lindsay Owen-Jones, Marco Piccinini dan Sergio Pininfarina.
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MARANELLO - Team Formula One (F1) Scuderia make apatner some national airways of United Arab Emirates. In that relationship Scuderia and Etihad sign for 3 year patner.

Before that, Etihad Airways has been sign with Spyker in start of last season 2007. But after the belion richman India Vijay Mallya buy Spyker become Super Aguri, the patner between syker and etihad stop. Why ?, couse Vijay Mallaya also have airways, Kingfisher Airlines.

For the patnership, Ferrari will be place label Etihad In Grand Prix F1 in 3 year front. The Logo of Etihad place at back wing, center body and the helmet of pilot F1.

The bos of Scuderia Luca di Montezemolo say, 'we very happy of this it will more relationship with United Arab Emirates'.

"colaborated Etihad Airways with Mubadala Development Company, prepare some sponsor for their subcon," Montezemolo say on autosport, thursday (13/3/2008).
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