Â
Ferrari suffered a huge blow to their title chances at Monza on Sunday, when McLaren duo Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton comfortably outpaced their rivals to claim a one-two at the Scuderia’s home race.The Italian team now trail McLaren by 23 points in the constructors’ championship, with Ferrari’s best-placed driver, Kimi Raikkonen, 18 points behind championship leader Hamilton in the drivers’ standings.
However, Ferrari are refusing to roll over, with team principal Todt believing that track characteristics at Spa, Shanghai and Interlagos could all play into their hands.
“We have not been competitive this year on circuits where we need a lot of mechanical grip, and where there is a lot of importance on the kerbs,” he told Autosport.
“The worst circuits for us this year have been Monte Carlo, Canada, Budapest in qualifying, and Monza.
“There is a question mark about Fuji (which hosts the Japanese GP) because we have not been there, but we feel that otherwise Spa, Shanghai and Brazil, there is no evidence that we could not be competitive.”
Todt also made it clear that, although Raikkonen is five points ahead of his team-mate Felipe Massa in the standings, both drivers are still free to race each other.
“At the moment, they will race,” the Frenchman said, when whether Massa – who retired from the Italian GP – would now have to support Raikkonen’s title bid.