“We’ve obviously still got a lot of work going on at the factory and we’ll
have new bits to test in Melbourne.”
Asked if he felt podiums were currently beyond them, Fry said: “At the moment,
I’d say yes. But I suppose I’m always slightly pessimistic. Testing is
always hard to see exactly where you are.
“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.
“I think we’ve still got a reasonable amount of work to do.”
Ferrari have not won the constructors’ title since 2008 and have been forced
to watch as Red
Bull have emerged as the sport’s pre-eminent force.
Team principal Stefano Domenicali is under huge pressure to turn things
around, with endless technical reshuffles leading to Fry being installed as
technical director midway through last year.
Fernando Alonso, widely considered to be the sport’s most complete driver, was
signed for the 2010 season and almost won the drivers’ championship in his
first year with the team.
However, a strategic error in the final race in Abu Dhabi handed the title to
Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull team have not looked back.
The Milton Keynes-based team look again to be the benchmark this year, with a
raft of upgrades arriving in Barcelona over the weekend.
Vettel, going for a hat-trick of titles this season, tried his best to play
down expectations. “I think it is always a bit the same,” he said.
“You never know where you are until you get to Melbourne and everyone pulls
their pants down – and you can see what they have got and you show what you
have got in qualifying.
“Until then we still will not know, but if we have a good Friday and the team
is on top on Friday that will probably be the same on Saturday.”
Red Bull’s closest challengers are expected to be McLaren, with the team
appearing quietly confident heading to Australia, but Mercedes
could also emerge this year as a force.
Ross Brawn said on Sunday night that his team had taken a big step forward
over the winter, adding that in his view it was likely to be much closer at
the top this season.
“We have certainly moved a long way in 12 months,” Brawn said. “I don’t think
we have a core problem — I think we have a reasonable car in that respect
and our race distance simulations are quite reasonable.
“There are five or six teams in a much closer grouping perhaps than we have
seen for a number of years.”
One of those teams is Lotus, formerly Renault, who have also looked solid in
testing and have lured 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen back from his sojourn in
the World Rally Championship.
Raikkonen topped the time sheets yesterday. Not that testing times mean too
much. Alonso went second quickest yesterday yet nobody at Ferrari was
getting excited.
A lot can change in two weeks — McLaren caught up around two seconds between
the final winter test and the first race in Melbourne last year — but it is
clear the 16-times constructors’ champions have their work cut out if they
are to prevent their rivals speeding off into the distance.