ROME: Ferrari technical director Pat Fry says there should be alarm bells ringing after the team was dogged by technical problems all weekend at the Italian Grand Prix.
On Friday, Fernando Alonso endured a suspected engine failure in the first practice and a brake problem and gearbox failure during the afternoon session. More technical issues on Saturday saw the championship leader qualify a disappointing tenth.
Problems continued during the race as garage equipment failed, leaving the team without telemetry, television pictures on the pit wall and a link to the remote garage at Maranello.
“It was rather like taking a step back in time to the days when we didn’t have all this equipment available,” Fry said. “At one point we had to make do with the telephone to speak to Maranello and decide if it was the right time for the pit stop.
“We managed to recover almost completely from the situation we were in after yesterday’s problems, but looking at the weekend as a whole, I have to say what happened over these days should ring some alarm bells for all of us,” he added.
It wasn’t all technical, with Felipe Massa blaming tyre degradation for his failure to secure a first podium finish of the season.
“I’m pleased with the result, even though I was hoping to make it to the podium,” he added. “We faced massive tyre degradation, higher than we expected, it was really amazing … very different to what we had seen on Friday.” (AP)