Formula 1 test Valencia:Latest.

Are Ferrari in trouble?.

Can Ferrari cope this year with the brain drain that has just included Nigel Septney's threat to take a sabbatical from the team because he is not happy with the way things are going there.Stepney is Ferrari's race and test technical manager,and used to be Michael Schumachers chief mechanic.The Briton who joined the team in 1992 has given fans and the other teams a hint that all is not well with the prancing horse.With technical director Ross Brawn,and engine boss Paolo Martinelli not with the team either;and of course Michael Schumacher,this has knocked the team off kilter.Ross Brawn is expected to come back next year as team principle,and it looks like he will have his work cut out.

The car has a longer wheel base(which is not the done thing when using Bridgestone tyres)than the other teams;now this could back up theories:that without Ross Brawns steady hand on the tiller the team is losing the plot?.Or it suggests: that Bridgestone has advised Ferrari to use the longer wheel base,and withheld this info from the other teams(who all have to use the same tyre manufacturer this year),due to Ferrari's 9 year relationship with the tyre company.

In testing at Valencia this week Kimi Raikkonen had his long awaited blast in the new car.The Fin got 4th fastest time,but was more than a 4 tenths down on Fernando Alonso in the McLaren,who set fastest time.

1. ALONSO McLaren 1m12.558s
2. FISICHELLA Renault 1m12.731s
3. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m12.769s
4. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m12.869s
5. HEIDFELD BMW 1m13.006s
6. TRULLI Toyota 1m13.296s
7. KUBICA BMW 1m13.306s
8. MASSA Ferrari 1m13.559s
9. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m13.658s
10. ROSSITER Honda 1m13.733s
11. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m13.843s
12. DE LA ROSA McLaren 1m14.277s
13. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m14.406s
14. SATO Super Aguri 1m14.823s
15. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m15.948s14. VAN DER GARDE Super Aguri 1m26.348s

If Brawn,Schumacher and co were still in the team i would be thinking,"hello,what are they up to?".With this crack team Ferrari could sometimes be unpredictable in the off season,posting average test times and telling of gloomy tales about the cars progress........then!......come the first race of the season they would seem to gel together into a formidable and devastating package;which would leave the other teams feeling as though they had been hit round the back of the head with a cricket bat!.The term used to describe this would be called,sandbagging.However,they are not part of the team now,and this sways things "in my opinion"to the team genuinely struggling this year.Kimi Raikkonen is deemed to be the quickest driver in the world at the moment,give him a car and he'll ring every bit of speed out of it.Can the new Ferrari survive this treatment though?.