Ferrari’s championship rivals have an “easier” task as formula one teams prepare for the future, team boss Stefano Domenicali insisted this week.
He was referring to the fact that Red Bull and McLaren simply pay a fee for their engines, while Ferrari will have to work with the existing V8 this year at the same time as preparing for 2014′s new V6 turbo rules.

“Teams who just pay for their engine have it easier,” Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport quotes the Italian as saying.

Domenicali confirmed that Ferrari’s V6 will not be ready to fire up for the first time until the summer.

“It takes a lot of money,” he said, “to adapt the structures and test facilities for the new engine and at the same time have the other (V8) programme.

“It will be a tough year and we take the issue very seriously,” added Domenicali.

And whilst hoping Ferrari’s 2014 V6 is a pacesetter, he also admitted it is important the new 1.6 litre turbos make the right sound.

“The noise is important to the formula one spectators,” said Domenicali, “and we have to make sure it stays that way.”

The President of Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo, does not want surprises or disappointments following the euphoria that seems to invade the ‘Il Cavallino’ scuderia. The Italian does not want to get carried away with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa’s good times behind the F10 during the first pre-season tests at the circuit in Valencia.
“I’m happy that our car seems to be born well,” he declared to the ‘Gazzetta dello Sport’ magazine. “But the pre-season tests are similar to football in August. I think the only positive aspect we should highlight is the sensation that the car has resulted as good as this;” he added.
The leading man of the scuderia, is cautious and assures that it’s still too early to give definite opinions on the Ferraris’ performance, previous to the start of the season. He prefers to share the cautiousness of Stefano Domenicalli, Sport Director of the team, who a few days ago said that “nothing can be guaranteed.”
There is one thing the two men agree on, that the Mercedes GP will be the rival to beat: “We still have many problems to take care of and we have to keep our feet on the ground. We still don’t know how good the others are;” underlining that “Alonso and Massa’s results are a first encouraging sign, but it’s too soon to judge.”
The thing being that subsequent to the terrible previous season, the Italian is risking a lot with regards to his image and prestige. Ferrari is not the only single-seater in the racetrack: “I think that Mercedes GP -ex Brawn-, is the rival to beat.” Naturally, not forgetting the energetic single-seater. “I’m sure that the Red Bull will also be very competitive, if we take into account the advantage with which it finished last season. And McLaren, too,” the Italian concluded.