SHANGHAI, April 14 – Ferrari say this week's Chinese Grand Prix must be a turning point to their disastrous season and have restructured its trackside operations in a bid to stop the rot.
The Italian team has made its worst start to a season since 1992, failing to score a single point, and knows that Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen need to perform in Shanghai.
"The Chinese GP must be a turning point for the Scuderia after a bad start to the season," Ferrari said on its website after crisis talks in Italy following the Malaysian Grand Prix, where Massa ended ninth and Raikkonen 14th.
Following the debrief in Italy, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo told reporters there were a lot of angry people in the room.
"Angry with themselves, but very determined to react," he said.
"The team remains united and I believe in them."
To tackle the situation Ferrari have reshuffled their operations, with team manager Luca Baldisserri switched to a factory-based role and a new Working Party set up to fast-track car improvements.
The decision to move Baldisserri follows team principal Stefano Domenicali labelling Ferrari’s performance in Malaysia, where errors in qualifying and the race cost it dear, as "unacceptable."
"The goal is to anticipate as much as possible the introduction of new technologies to reduce the performance gap as fast as possible," the Ferrari statement said.
