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Initial analysis of the engine fitted to
Kimi Raikkonen's car (above, during Sunday's
European Grand Prix before he retired) which
arrived in Maranello on Monday morning,
confirmed the breakage of a con rod. |
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Scuderia
Ferrari is working with no respite. By Monday morning,
the engineers who were on track at Valencia on Sunday,
were already in meetings with their Maranello-based
colleagues to carry out the usual post race debrief,
during which the key points of the weekend were
re-examined with a view to deciding on what action
should be taken.
President Luca di Montezemolo also took part in the
meeting, before another meeting with the Scuderia's
senior management to discuss all aspects of the current
situation. Montezemolo expressed his satisfaction with a
great win for Felipe, on the occasion of his one
hundredth Formula 1 race, all of them spent at the wheel
of cars powered by a Ferrari engine, truly a driver who
has grown up under the sign of Maranello. The Valencia
victory also coincided with Brigestone's two hundredth
race in the blue riband category of motor sport: the
Japanese company supplied Ferrari for 88 of its total of
207 wins.
Initial analysis of the engine fitted to Kimi
Raikkonen's car, which arrived in Maranello on Monday
morning, confirmed the breakage of a con rod. Currently
underway are further checks to try and understand what
provoked the failure, even if it is easy to surmise that
it could be a similar problem to the one that sidelined
Felipe, three laps from the end of the Hungarian Grand
Prix. Furthermore, the engineers were aware of a
potential risk in general terms with the 056 engine
fitted to Kimi's car, which was on its second race,
given that the con rods were part of the same batch used
on Felipe's engine. Changing the engine on Kimi's car
would have seen the Finn start from far down the grid at
a track where it appeared that overtaking was
impossible, proving it's not enough to bring Formula 1
to a street circuit in a fantastic location to produce
spectacular racing.
The team is now back on track. Andrea Bertolini
yesterday gave the F2008 its first outing at the Monza
circuit, using the second of four "joker" days available
to the Formula 1 teams as part of the testing
regulations. Felipe Massa is taking over from the
Italian today and tomorrow, with Kimi Raikkonen bringing
this intensive test session to a close on the track that
hosts the Italian Grand Prix on 14th September.
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