The Ferrari F2005 to race at Bahrain.

By Parminio
March 29 2005

Is it the right decision? Only time will tell us that. Fact is, even with Ferrari testing the car when nobody else is testing and racking up the miles, there have been reports of issues.

Issues are the last thing that Ferrari need right now. Considering the bad luck for qualifying they had at Australia, and then the poor qualifying they had at Malaysia, one wonders if Ferrari aren't pushing without cause.

Yes, Ferrari's results have been at the least less than spectacular, but considering their starting grid possitions and the performance of the F2004 in race trim, it seems like they're pushing a bit too hard. The only X factor making the rumour rounds is that the F2004 is running on tires specifically designed for the F2005. Rumours are rumours of course, but that seems like a very far stretch.

Bridgestone only work for Ferrari now, and everyone knows it, so it's hard to believe that Bridgestone didn't have dual development going from the start. Jean Todt is on the record as stating that the F2005 was .500 to 1 second faster than the F2004M. OK, that being said that still puts Ferrari in the lower ranks of the top 10.

The other big issue is the failures of the car at apparently random times. Since Ferrari test on a private circuit and very little news ever escapes, it's amazing that reports of any failures at all have surfaced. Even with all the miles that Luca Badoer has put in, Michael Schumacher has been burning the midnight oil at camp Ferrari lately putting the final miles on the F2005 before it gets shipped to Bahrain.

All of this points to one thing: Ferrari are worried for the first time in years. To push the introduction of the car like never before tells us all that Ferrari are at the very least concerned with keeping the streak of wins alive.

In just a few short days, we'll all see if they pushed too hard, or made the right call.