Ferrari Fly Back Failing Engines to Italy for Instant Analysis

Ferrari's engineers are working round the clock in the run-up to next Sunday's race in Kuala Lumpur to determine precisely why the V8 engines in the cars of both Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa failed during the Australian grand prix at the Albert Park circuit, which took place in temperatures exceeding 35C (95F).

"We think we have an idea where the problem may lie," said a spokesman for the world champion team yesterday. "But the engines concerned have been flown back to Italy where they will be examined in detail by our engineers. Only when we have completed that process will we be able to diagnose the problem with any certainty. Freshly prepared replacement engines will be flown out to Malaysia in time for next Sunday's race when we hope that things will go rather better."

However, Stefano Domenicali, who took over as team principal from Jean Todt at the end of last season, made it clear that reliability is a "fundamental element" of the team's performance and that the failures in Sunday's 58-lap race were extremely worrying. "Obviously it doesn't give us peace of mind," he told the auto sport.com website. "We must understand everything but this is obviously the most worrying thing. We must react."

Domenicali suggested the switch to a standard electronic control box could have played a factor in the latest troubles. From the start of this season every car is fitted with an FIA-approved ECU, which is manufactured by the electronics division of the McLaren group.

"Reliability counts for plenty," said Domenicali. "We had engine trouble, but with this rule-book the gearbox is another element to keep in check. Let's not forget that with MES [the standard electronic control box] we can have some problems in understanding the system, and how to integrate it with the car. We must still discover it in full.

"Obviously we need to analyze step by step everything that has happened, because it's been a really bad weekend under every aspect."

While Raikkonen had two spins during the race, Domenicali refused to find fault with the Finnish world champion. "A driver must always attack," he said. "We absolutely don't feel like criticizing him under that aspect. He was right to attack because he felt he was faster than the others."