Felipe Massa

Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo has clarified Michael Schumacher’s role with the marque’s Formula 1 team, saying that the seven-time world champion continues to be involved as a consultant.

The Ferrari legend’s role in the team drew intense press speculation following high-profile strategy blunders in qualifying and the race during the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend.

“Michael is part of our family,” di Montezemolo told reporters in Bahrain today. “Michael is part of our history. Michael has very good relations with [team principal] Stefano Domenicali and he will continue to give ideas and suggestions as a consultant – no more, no less.

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Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has blamed bad rules and complacency at his team for the Scuderia’s disastrous start to the season.

Neither Felipe Massa nor Kimi Raikkonen scored points in the first three races of the season, and another non-score in Bahrain on Sunday would mark Ferrari’s worst ever start to a Formula 1 season.

Speaking during a visit to the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, where he vowed to show support for Ferrari, di Montezemolo blamed the confusion caused by the diffuser regulations and a misplaced confidence from his team as chief contributors to its problems.

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Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali says next month’s Spanish Grand Prix will not be the team’s last chance to get its season back on track, although he concedes it will be an important date.

The Italian team is pinning its hopes of resurrecting its championship challenge in the Barcelona race, where the Maranello outfit will introduce several updates to improve its car’s performance.

Ferrari is already 47 points behind in the standings after the first four races of the season and faces the prospect of losing all touch with the teams in front if the F60 car does not improve dramatically quickly.

Domenicali admits the race in Spain will be important, but he downplayed suggestions that it’s the team’s last chance to recover.

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Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali says that finishing tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix is the team’s top priority after both Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa made it through to Q3 for the first time since Melbourne.

Ferrari has not scored in the opening three races of the season, the Scuderia’s worst start since 1981.

With reliability problems costing points in the first three races, Domenicali believes that getting both cars to the finish should get the team on the scoreboard for the first time.

“It will be vital to ensure that, first and foremost, we make it to the chequered flag. With these high temperatures, car reliability faces a stiff test.

“Our aim is simple. To wipe the zero off our score card in the championship.”

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Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen is expecting another difficult weekend for the Italian squad at the Bahrain Grand Prix following Friday’s practice.

The Maranello-based squad is yet to score a point in three races and faces the prospect of enduring its worst start to a season if it fails to score in Bahrain.

Things did not start brilliantly for Ferrari on Friday, with Raikkonen languishing in 18th position at the end of the day.

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Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali is expecting the Italian squad to endure another challenging weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix, but he is hopeful the Maranello squad will make progress for Spain.

The team has endured its worst start to a season since 1981, having failed to score any points in the first three races, with its car not being fast nor reliable.

Domenicali is pinning his hopes on the improvements to be introduced in the car for the Spanish Grand Prix, which will mark the start of the European season.

In the meantime, however, the Italian is expecting his team to continue with its difficulties.

“We have endured a very difficult start to the season,” said Domenicali. “We knew we would suffer in China and in all probability, we will be suffering again here this weekend.

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