Ferrari’s chief engineer, Nikolas Tombazis, has admitted that the Italian outfit took a conservative approach to their challenger, the F150º Italia.
He conceded that their rivals, namely Red Bull, McLaren and Renault, have been much more innovative and aggressive, and the results have paid off for them.
“We have tried to see if our approach was too conservative and we realised that, for various reasons, we were neither reactive nor aggressive enough in the development stages,” he told the Ferrari website.
When asked if the criticism levelled at Ferrari in regards to their lack of innovation was fair, he replied: “Unfortunately, we cannot claim this accusation is entirely without foundation,” he said honestly.
“At the moment, we don’t have a winning car and, on those of our competitors we can see innovative solutions introduced in a more aggressive fashion than we have done.
“Maybe we were a bit too passive in our approach: we did not push hard enough in some areas of development and unfortunately, the results can be seen on track.”
Whilst it has been a disappointing start, Tombazis is confident that changes adopted recently in Maranello will have a positive effect, starting with new upgrades in Turkey, however he admitted they might not be enough just yet.
“We have made some adjustments to our working practices to try and focus much more on car performance: we have changed the working practice in the wind tunnel and in terms of the development of the aerodynamic design side.
“We will have new wings, both front and rear and new brake ducts. I can’t say if this step forward will be enough. If we want to close the gap, we have to do something over and above the norm.
“I am therefore convinced that we can get back to winning again.”
