Ferrari has launched an internal investigation into why the outfit struggled so badly at the Hungarian Grand Prix – a race it was thought the F138 would do well at.
Team principal Stefano Domenicali has ordered the investigation himself, calling upon the technical department to identify the cause and find a solution.
Initial suggestions support a change in tyres as the likely cause, as this is the first time they have struggled with race pace, rather than just outright qualifying pace.
“We have seen that we have lost the gap that we had at the first few races. During races, the pacxe was clearly very strong; now in the conditions [in Hungary] we have seen that we are not where we wanred to be on both tyres – soft and medium,” Domenicali said.
“We need to understand if this is the case [that the tyres are hurting our form] and how to react, because this will be the structure of tyres we have until the end of the season.
“Then a lot will depend on the choice of compounds for the races at the end of the season. It is something we need to analyse carefully – as it seems Mercedes has solved the issue that is was suffering massively in the races.”
The outfit has fallen 14 points behind Mercedes after Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian GP and currently lies third, just 11 ahead of Lotus.
Domenicali is also keen to understand why their latest upgrades haven’t worked. The F138 is essentially the same car raced at the Spanish GP, as all the developments brought forward after haven’t been raced because they’ve failed to improve the cars handling, downforce or traction.
“We have improved the car for qualifying, but we haven’t for races,” he explained. “We have done a programme to be ready for Spa, and hopefully we are able to manage it. I am expecting a positive reaction from my technical group.”
