In wake of Ferrari technical director Pat Fry’s recent frank assessment of the urgent need to change the “methodologies” used at the team in order to become successful again, Stefano Domenicali has now confirmed the process of making such deep-seated change is firmly underway – although stressed it would be a long-term project. Ferrari’s disappointing start to the season, which has happened despite a change in design philosophy for 2012, appears to have crystallised for the Maranello hierarchy the need to overhaul its fundamental approach to designing and developing F1 cars. Speaking on Monday, Domenicali, Ferrari’s team principal, said the plan was to More…

Fernando Alonso is expecting the battle for the championship to distil into a much smaller group of protagonists than currently appears the case – and says that when that time comes Ferrari must ensure it is right in the fight. The pattern of the season’s first three races has mirrored that of 2010 when there were also three different winners from three different teams and a championship leader who had yet to win a race. Six different drivers have also stood on the podium so far in 2012, which is just one less than the total for the whole of last season. But Alonso, More…

From the unexpected high of victory in Malaysia, the Chinese Grand Prix brought Ferrari back down to earth with a bump as Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa finished in ninth and 13th places respectively. The Maranello outfit may currently be in the process of accelerating developmental work on the F2012 in a bid to improve the difficult car’s competitive as quickly as possible, yet the team’s senior technical figure has admitted there are also more deep-rooted problems that need to be resolved if Ferrari is to enjoy sustained long-term success again. Pat Fry, who took the reigns of Ferrari’s technical department last More…