MELBOURNE, March 31 - Ferrari are planning big improvements for their car in
time for the first European race of the Formula One season at their home Imola
circuit.
"There is quite a good development programme being put together and Imola
will be the first stage," technical director Ross Brawn told reporters at the
Australian Grand Prix on Friday.
"I think it will be quite a good step forward for us, both aerodynamically
and mechanically."
Ferrari have rebounded from a miserable 2005 season with a more competitive
248F1 car. Seven-times champion Michael Schumacher is equal second in the
standings, seven points adrift of Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso after
two races.
Brawn said Ferrari would be trying out new suspension systems before the
April 23 San Marino Grand Prix and further developments were in the pipeline.
"There are some nice improvements coming for Imola on the aero side and I
know there are some further improvements coming for the races after that," the
Autosport Web site quoted the Briton as saying.
"There are some changes to the engine coming as well, but we need to
stabilise the situation with the engine before we think we can introduce the
changes."
Ferrari, the most successful team in Formula One history, have suffered
repeated failures with their new V8 engine. Both Schumacher and Brazilian Felipe
Massa incurred 10-place penalties on the starting grid in Malaysia.
Brawn said Ferrari had identified the problem as a piston issue and would
lower the revs for Saturday qualifying in particular.
"It is a problem with one piston in the engine and all the others are
perfectly okay," he said. "But you only need one to fail of course.
"It is a difficult problem to resolve because when you take the engine apart,
seven pistons are perfect and one of them looks a bit sad. But we have some
modifications to try before Imola," added Brawn.