Ferrari’s technical director Pat Fry doesn’t believe the F2012 will be fighting for podium finishes in the opening few races.
The former McLaren designer, who joined Ferrari at the end of the 2010 season, admits the outfit has a lot of work on its hands before the opening race of the season.
When asked if he thought podium finishes were out of reach for now, he replied: “At the moment, I’d say yes. But I suppose I’m always slightly pessimistic.
“I am disappointed by our performance level at the moment,” added Fry. “I think we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve obviously still got a lot of work going on at the factory and we’ll have new bits to test in Melbourne.”
Fry acknowledges that the times have been hard to read without knowing what their rivals are doing in regards to fuel loads, but going on historic data, he’s sure the F2012 isn’t a frontrunner yet.
“Testing is always hard to see exactly where you are,” he continued. “We knew historically what fuel levels people have run, so we’ve got an idea where they are, but if they’ve changed what they’ve done for the last two or three years, I could either be depressed, more disappointed or less disappointed, I don’t know.”
