Jean Todt has once again accentuated the gap between Ferrari and the two leading teams – Renault and McLaren – has widened rather than narrowed in recent races.
The Italian Scuderia watched its rivals cross the line over a minute ahead of them at the French and British Grands Prix recently.
“It’s true that we’ve been moving backwards in the last few races,” Todt said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper. “We’re simply too slow.”
Ferrari trail Renault and McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship while seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher is third in the driver’s championship, behind Renault’s Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Kimi Räikkönen.
“Our opponents are able to drive their fastest laps at the end of the race while we’re struggling after about 20 laps,” Todt said. “That is a development backwards.
“It’s very difficult for us to clearly evaluate where it lies. It lies not only with the aerodynamics.”
Todt said it was nevertheless possible that Ferrari could make a “jump forward” at Hockenheim.
However, last week Todt insisted he had lived through harder times at Ferrari. “We need to see how to react and what can be done,” he explained.
“I cannot tell you if it’s possible or not within a very short time. But it’s a new challenge for sure. Then again I’ve been in much more difficult situations: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, so all of those and part of 1999; all those were more difficult.”
