Australian GP - Ferrari - Preview

Ferrari head to the Australian Grand Prix this week ready to start their 2009 campaign.

The new F60 package has been reasonably strong in testing with Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen recording the fifth and seventh fastest times respectively in the final group test at Circuit de Catalunya.

Massa, who missed out on championship success by a single point last year, acknowledges that Brawn GP in particular are very strong rivals, but is confident that he can replicate his 2008 race form.

Team-mate Raikkonen had a less successful campaign last year, but the 2007 world champion is looking forward to the new season even if unwilling to make any pre-season predictions.

Felipe Massa
"It was a long wait, longer than usual, as the Australian GP's date had been moved, but now we're ready to race and I can't wait."

"I'm going to Australia with great confidence and optimism, but also with some caution: the test results are not always repeated during the race weekends. We've seen during the tests that there are also some other very strong teams, especially in the last sessions the Brawns. It seems that they've got the fastest car at the moment and I think that their pace is real; maybe they found something that makes the difference. We'll see in Melbourne; but I think they've got a good car and they did their tests with the right weight."

"I'm 100 percent ready, perfectly in shape and I think that this also applies to the team.
We made some mistakes last year and we've been working hard all winter long to improve where we weren't perfect."

"Everybody worked hard, analysing the mistakes, trying to find solutions. I think we're very well prepared and that we've done some great work."

"My team-mate is still my strongest competitor and I think that Kimi will be very strong - as usual. My goal is very simple: I want a season like in 2008 and to reach that goal I have to stay concentrated and work very hard. The first race is always a bit like a leap in the dark, but I can't wait."

Kimi Raikkonen
"I enjoyed this winter break more than usual. I spent most of the time with my family and friends in Switzerland and Finland, but I mainly trained very hard and in a different way to be ready for a very demanding season."

"It's difficult making predictions, considering the many rule changes this year. Ferrari was very competitive during the tests; but we'll do the F60's countercheck at Melbourne, when we'll all meet in the race with the same fuel at the same time. Only then we'll see how strong we are and maybe we've got to wait for a couple of races to have a clearer situation."

"It seems that a really long time has passed since the last race in Brazil, also considering all the changes of the car: it will be really interesting to see how its development will evolve. When things go well you're having more fun, but we still haven't raced this year, so it's really a bit too early to say anything."

"We hope that everything will be the way we expect it to be. There's a lot less of aerodynamic downforce than last year, so we'll be slower in the fast corners, but the car will have much more grip in the slow ones, due to the slicks. Therefore the lap times haven't changed a lot. I can confirm that I like the F60 more than last year's car. It's much more fun to drive and it reminds me more of the cars I was used to some year ago. The KERS is something very interesting and easy to use: I hope that it will make overtaking easier."

Stefano Domenicali
"It will be a very demanding season, as usual. We've got a new single-seater, which we've prepared with less miles of tests, due to the rules. But you've been really brave and we're leaving for Melbourne convinced that we can fight for the top positions as usual. It won't be easy and we've got to remain concentrated."