The Maranello-based team were the first team to unveil their 2009 challenger and they used the opportunity to get the first track mileage with their KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System).
But, as was almost to be expected with such a radically different design, the first test was hit by a few mechanical issues that meant they could not complete a full day of running.
After a few laps in the morning, Massa was forced to sit on the sidelines for several hours before the car returned to action in the afternoon. In the end he completed around 100 kilometres.
With testing so limited prior to the season, when a full scale testing ban comes into force, Ferrari are determined to ensure that they do not lose valuable track time by suffering any more problems in next week's running at Portimao in Portugal - when new cars from Toyota, Renault, McLaren and Williams will go head-to-head for the first time.
Ferrari confirmed on Tuesday that engineers have spent the day in meetings, thoroughly analyzing the first batch of data from Monday's running of the F60 as well as beginning a troubleshooting exercise to avoid further mechanical issues.
The meetings were joined by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, who could not attend the shakedown at Mugello on Monday because he was in Rome on other business.
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said on Monday that he expected a quite difficult build up to the season, because so much was new with the 2009 cars.
"Today's presentation is important for us, because this is the first set of tests on a race track," he explained. "I imagine that we will have problems, the typical problems linked to race track, and we will have to solve these is a different way.
"Tests are reduced, we are down to 15,000km, and there are no tests during the season so we have to be as efficient as possible. We have to use testing benches a lot more than in the past.
"The first objective to meet is to have a car that is highly reliable, as reliability placed a very heavy burden on us last season. We also want to understand the potential of KERS and then solve all the reliability problems."
No comments:
Post a Comment