MAY 21, 2015

Ferrari to try again with Barcelona upgrade

Ferrari is persevering with a major car upgrade that did not work last time out in Barcelona.

The Maranello team's 2015 resurgence came to a halt at the Spanish grand prix, when a big package of 'improvements' for the 2015 car actually resulted in a widening of the gap between it and pacesetter Mercedes.

Kimi Raikkonen even reverted to the 'old' car in Barcelona.

But after the post-race test, Ferrari was said to have been relieved to have resolved most of the issues with the SF15-T's upgrade.

"Obviously we think that they are good parts," Raikkonen said on Wednesday, "otherwise they would not be on the car."

Indeed, both the Finn and teammate Sebastian Vettel will be racing the upgraded car in Monaco this weekend.

"We are confident this is the right way to go," said the German driver, "so we have decided to keep the new parts in the car."

Vettel, however, said that given the step backwards in Barcelona, any talk of Ferrari taking on Mercedes for the world championship is premature.

"If the gap is as big as it was then it becomes difficult to talk about being in the fight for the championship," he said on Wednesday.

But Vettel admitted to looking forward to using Pirelli's 'super soft' tyre for the first time this weekend, given the characteristics of the 2015 car.

Asked how he is expecting to go on the super-softs, he grinned: "I hope super-good!"

(GMM)