Ferrari will write off the 2010 season if the team does not secure a good result at Monza.

That is the announcement of the famous Italian marque's F1 boss Stefano Domenicali, referring to Fernando Alonso's 41 point gap to the championship leader with just six races left to run.

"Should Monza go really badly and Red Bull's lead continues to increase, then on Monday we will begin to use all of our staff and resources for the project of next season's car," he is quoted by the sports daily Corriere dello Sport.

F1 experts and pundits, including Bernie Ecclestone and Niki Lauda, have recently played down expectations that Alonso will be able to emulate the role formerly played at Ferrari by Michael Schumacher.

Domenicali disagrees: "Alonso reminds me very much of Schumacher.

"Since I've been with Ferrari, I have not seen a driver who has as strong a presence in Maranello, and follows all of our activities with the same conviction" as the Spaniard, he added.

McLaren on Wednesday said it is happy with F1's new engine formula for 2013, amid reports Ferrari is not supporting the 4-cylinder plan.

It is believed most teams are backing the introduction of 1.6 litre turbo engines, with restricted fuel flow, to replace the thirsty 2.4 litre V8 engines of today.

But Italian reports said Ferrari wants a 1.8 litre V6 engine, because it would essentially involve simply lopping two cylinders off the current designs.

The famous team's engine boss Luca Marmorini said there is not enough time between now and 2013 to design an all-new engine "with the necessary reliability to have only four units (per driver), as they would like".

He also argues that the 4-cylinder engines will require a complete overhaul of the chassis designs.

But Tim Goss, chief engineer of McLaren's 2010 car the MP4-25, said the British team is supportive of the new rules.

"I think for formula one to show it is at the cutting edge of technology in regards to engines and to promote fuel efficiency, it's entirely the right thing to do," he said during a Vodafone teleconference.

Goss also contradicted Marmorini's claim that there isn't enough time before 2013 to design the new engines.

"As long as the decisions are made shortly, and I think everyone is in a frame of mind to bring it to a conclusion fairly promptly, (there is enough time)," he said.

"The FIA are working hard at it and I'm sure things will be decided relatively swiftly."

Sebastian Vettel has vowed to keep attacking in 2010, despite the wave of criticism about his rate of errors in recent races.

The 23-year-old German's most recent gaffe was his crash into fellow championship challenger Jenson Button at Spa, earning McLaren's rebuke that he has become F1's "crash kid".

But Vettel told German language Speedweek that he is not now going to drive more cautiously as a result.

"Racing is not a coffee break," said the Red Bull driver.

"I go to the grid to win if it is possible. But you have to attack, you can't just wait for it to happen."

Vettel admits his Spa-Francorchamps manoeuvre on Button went badly wrong, and phoned his British rival to apologise.

But he will be racing with an unchanged attitude this weekend at Monza.

"I always try to attack, so in that way nothing is going to change. You always have your head switched on and everyone weighs up the risks.

"I know that both myself and my car are fast enough to win," added the German

Press angry after Ferrari team orders verdict
Sections of the international media were angry after the FIA controversially decided not to further penalise Ferrari for imposing team orders at Hockenheim.

The full reasons for the decision have not yet been released, but the Daily Express in Britain said upholding the $100,000 stewards fine and ordering the paying of costs amounted to a "slap on the wrist".

"It was like giving a 40 (pound) parking ticket to a supercar owner who finds it easier to break the law by parking outside Harrods than find a legal spot," said the newspaper.

Moreover, the team orders ban has been referred back to the Sporting Working Group for review, moving the Daily Mail to muse that F1 has decided to "rip up its own rule book".

One photograph, published at Brazil's Globo website, depicted a Ferrari with a large FIA sponsor decal on its otherwise blank engine cover.

The Maranello based team, whose drivers were available for testimony by video link but ultimately not called upon, reacted officially to Wednesday's verdict by expressing its "appreciation" to the FIA.

"People used to think the FIA stood for Ferrari International Assistance," remarked an angry Eddie Jordan. "Ferrari are important, but they must treat everybody with respect."

Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport said the events in Paris, ahead of the grand prix at Monza, was Ferrari's "first victory of the week".

Indeed, 'Ferrari International Assistance' became a major trending topic on Twitter as the news broke, and BBC anchor Jake Humphrey said his feedback from fans was "not positive".

Ferrari issued radio message to 'motivate' Massa

Ferrari argued on Wednesday that Felipe Massa decided to let Fernando Alonso pass him for the race lead at Hockenheim because the Brazilian was angry.

As was rumoured before the World Motor Sport Council's disciplinary sitting in Paris, the Maranello based team rejected the charge that it imposed an illegal team order that deprived Massa of the German GP victory.

Carlos Gracia, president of Spain's motor racing federation, was present for the hearing, and later revealed the apparent thrust of Ferrari's argument to Spanish radio Cadena SER.

"Massa was told that he was slower than Alonso to motivate him," said Gracia.

"Angered by the message, Massa decided to slow down, and this led to the suspicions (about team orders)," he added.

Gracia also revealed that he has spoken to Alonso, who knows "nothing" about the imposition of a team order.

Sebastian Vettel has rebuked his teammate's suggestion that the time is nearing for Red Bull to choose a number 1 driver.

Mark Webber, just 3 points off the championship lead with six races to go, is 28 points clear of Vettel in the drivers' standings.

After finishing second at Spa two weeks ago, the Australian suggested that Red Bull might be wise to favour him if the team wants to win the 2010 title.

But German Vettel, 23, hit back at that plan in an email interview with the Associated Press published on Thursday.

"For a driver this makes no sense -- you don't give up trying to win the championship until it's mathematically impossible," he said.

"For the team it makes no sense to favour one if that means penalising the other because you need both drivers scoring maximum points to win the constructors' championship," added Vettel.

"With two drivers close in the championship it is too dangerous to choose."

The bad news for Vettel is that even Dr Helmut Marko, who is thought to get along with the young German more than with Webber, can see that it is in Red Bull's interests to eventually back the driver with the best championship prospects.

"After Monza we will sit down all together and assess our championship chances," the team consultant is quoted by Kleine Zeitung newspaper.

Source: GMM

Read more: http://www.worldcarfans.com/11009092...#ixzz0z5O7ITTx

Sebastian Vettel turned the tables on McLaren at Monza on Friday afternoon by setting the fastest time so far of 1m 22.839s, but the Red Bull driver was only 0.076s faster than Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and 0.222s ahead of Felipe Massa in the second F10. Soon after Massa had gone fastest with 1m 23.061s he was deposed by Alonso with 1m 22.915s, before Vettel displaced both.

That left the McLarens, which had set the initial pace in the hour and a half-long session, in fourth and fifth places. Lewis Hamilton lapped his MP4-25 in 1m 23.154s to Jenson Button’s 1m 23.210s. Mark Webber was close to them with 1m 23.415s before his Red Bull rolled to a halt in the Lesmos with mechanical problems.

Rubens Barrichello got going well to set seventh fastest time for Williams after his problems this morning, lapping in 1m 23.708s to pip Robert Kubica’s Renault by a thousandth of a second. Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg was right with them on 1m 23.852s, and Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg was little slower on 1m 23.857s.

Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi were evenly matched in their Force Indias, with 1m 24.181s and 1m 24.380s respectively, ahead of Vitaly Petrov on 1m 24.407s for Renault, Michael Schumacher on 1m 24.448s for Mercedes, Sebastien Buemi on 1m 25.517s for Toro Rosso, and Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi on 1m 24.547s and 1m 24.785s for BMW Sauber.

Jaime Alguersuari was 18th on 1m 25.106s in the second Toro Rosso, while Jarno Trulli moved Lotus ahead in the new team stakes with 1m 26.204s. Team mate Heikki Kovalainen was right behind with 1m 26.306s, as were Lucas di Grassi and Timo Glock in the Virgins, with 1m 26.631s and 1m 26.676s. Sakon Yamamoto was 23rd on 1m 29.498s, but HRT team mate Bruno Senna’s efforts to set a time were twice thwarted by technical gremlins.

Fernando Alonso comes to Monza under the greatest pressure to deliver a strong result to keep Ferrari in the hunt for the world championship. And yesterday he admitted here that this race, and the next in Singapore, will have a crucial effect on his and the Scuderia’s chances.

"Before Spa we were all in a very small difference, small gap and after one race the gap has increased," he said. "But things change very quickly race-by-race, and this year with the new points system it can change very quickly. Our aim is to do six races at top level, best level we can, and then we will see.

"Obviously the less races there are until the end of the championship, the more problems you have if you have a bad weekend. This weekend is maybe not the last, but one of our last chances will come here or Singapore to recover some good points.”

Ferrari indicated before coming here that if they fail to score well they may well switch their focus from developing the F10 any further and move to working exclusively on next year’s car.

"There are still six races to go and I am still confident that if you are on podium in all six and win some of them it is possible to be a contender in the last race,” Alonso continued. "We are still more or less calm of our chances, but knowing that Monza is an important race, and Singapore is. Another DNF or another problem is probably a last chance or a bye bye to the championship."

He said that he is confident that Ferrari have identified why the car was less competitive than expected at Spa, after looking much better since Canada. "We should be competitive here," he said. "Spa didn't get us what we expected, and the performance we had there was not as good as we wanted. We made some changes and some analysis of what happened and I think we understand some of the problems, and here we arrive with a better package that suits Monza."

There seems to be a consensus that F-ducts can still be helpful here, since they should enable cars to reach around 339km/h on Monza’s long straights, whereas with the sort of rear wings they would have to run to get away with super-low drag packages, and speed exceeding 340km/h, the trade-off would be much less beneficial in terms of downforce lost in cornering.

Alonso said Ferrari have become increasingly aggressive in their development. “I think we’ve been aggressive more or less every race in the last part of the championship. Halfway through the season we’ve been attacking the races and trying to be on the podium with a more aggressive approach, and here will be the same.”

But he denied that he would regard not winning the title as failure in his first season with the Prancing Horse. “Ah, no. For sure, every championship you start or every first race you arrive to a new season you want to become champion at the end and if you cannot arrive to that goal, for sure it’s a disappointment for yourself and for the team because you’ve been preparing the championship towards the victory at the end. But I think the word failure or disaster or those sort of things are a little bit too extreme. We are in a very competitive sport, we know our opponents are very strong as well, very competitive, and the champion at the end is the one that deserves it most. If we are not champions, it’s because we didn’t do enough to do it, so let’s wait and see what happens. But this first season at Ferrari, so far, has been incredible, it has been the best of my life and I’m enjoying… I’m a super-happy man, so we will see what happens in the end.”

Things We Learnt From The FIA's Hearing Notes:

[*]* As early as lap 19 of the race, Fernando was radioing the team informing them that he was "a lot quicker". The response of his radio engineer included the assurance that "we are on the case, don't worry". When Massa himself was given the hurry-up over his radio, the communication ended with the words "you know the score, come on".


* The FIA, via their 'reporter; did not find that Fernando was faster than Felipe. In the laps before the lead of the race changed, both drivers were ordered to reduce their engine revs and then 'Mr Fernando Alonso increased his engine speed without Mr Felipe Massa being informed. Mr Fernando Alonso was therefore benefiting from a definite performance advantage over Mr Felipe Massa in the moments preceding the contentious overtaking'.