The team now hope that Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello will give the new car its debut in the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya on May 4, although team insiders have hinted that, unless the F2003-GA has proved itself totally reliable in testing, its race debut might be postponed for another fortnight until the Austrian Grand Prix.
Problems with the new car were the last thing Ferrari needed after an uncertain start to the season in which world champion Schumacher has failed to make the podium. Twelve months ago Schumacher won in San Marino commandingly in the current F2002 — which was making its debut and which went on to dominate last year’s championship.
‘Last week during testing at Mugello we had a few engine reliability problems and, although we think we have identified and solved them, we need to check them out at another Mugello test after the Imola race to be sure,†a spokesperson said.
He added: ‘We do not want to take any risks with the new car and believe we can win at Imola with the F2002. The new car problems are not something that concern us as we are satisfied the old car could have won the races in Australia and Brazil.â€
The new Ferrari is an evolved version of the car that won 15 of last season’s 17 races but with even more tightly packaged and streamlined aerodynamics and a smaller, lighter engine and gearbox. Since its first test seven weeks ago the F2003-GA has suffered a host of minor technical problems, which have twice caused Luca Badoer, the team’s primary test driver, to crash heavily.
On the second occasion he was so badly shaken that he was unable to fulfil his duties as reserve driver for the Malaysian Grand Prix, where his place was taken by the team’s other test driver, Felipe Massa.
Ferrari are hoping their Bridgestone tyres prove more competitive at Imola this weekend, where the track temperatures are expected to be much lower than those in Australia, Malaysia and Brazil.
Whether this will be sufficient to balance out the dramatic improvement in Michelin’s tyres — a key factor in McLaren winning two of the season’s first three races — remains to be seen. —