Target is to be competitive and reliable from the start - Domenicali

When a new season starts you take a glance at the one that has just finished but, above all, you give targets for the new one. That’s up to the chief and for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro since 2008 that job has gone to Stefano Domenicali, who has begun his 20th year at the Maranello company. The stage for this announcement is a year older: Wroom is now in its 21st edition.

Ferrari team principal, Stefano Domenicali, said: “In 2010 we just missed out on the drivers title with Fernando Alonso and we came third in the constructors championship. The target for 2011 is as easy to say as it is hard to achieve – it requires taking one step forward in the drivers championship and two in the one for the teams. These have to be our targets because we are Ferrari. To manage it we want to have a car that is super-competitive and reliable from the very start. We know that we will have to be perfect, including in how we react to all the events that can crop up in a race weekend – because when the opponents are so strong and numerous this is what you need if you aspire to win.”

The new car will be presented on January 28 at Maranello and then, weather conditions permitting, it will immediately be used for some promotional shots at the Fiorano circuit. The car will have a livery based on the new logo that will adorn all the sporting activities carried out by Ferrari this year. Then it will begin the 15 days of pre-season testing allowed by the regulations on February 1 at the Cheste circuit in Valencia. The first driver at the wheel will be Fernando Alonso, who will hand over to team-mate Felipe Massa on the third day.

“The car that you will see at the Maranello launch will be very different from the one that makes its debut on March 13 in Bahrain,” added Domenicali. “We will continue to develop the car up to the last available day, as we believe the other teams will.”

The Valencia test will also mark Pat Fry’s debut in his new role of head of race track engineering – one that he holds in addition to his existing title of deputy technical director. Domenicali explained: “For a while we were thinking of improving the team in certain areas so this decision was not taken on impulse after what happened in Abu Dhabi – if anything it was just brought forward. Pat will have the responsibility of running all the track activities both technical and relating to the drivers.

To do that in the most effective way, together with the race engineers, he will also have the support of the tools that will be available and improved by a new technical body that we have created: the Operations Research department, which will be headed by new arrival Neil Martin. This department will also have the job of improving the integration between simulator, wind tunnel and technical office. There will be no other changes.”