Domenicali: ECU has caused problems

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=42187

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali believes the new standard electronic control unit (ECU) has contributed to his squad's early-season reliability problems.

This year all cars have to be fitted with a McLaren Electronic Systems-supplied ECU following the ban on driver aids, with most team admitting during pre-season that it was taking time to fully understand the system.

The world champions suffered a highly unusual double engine failure in Australia, while both Toro Rosso and Force India have also experienced problems with their Ferrari V8s.

Domenicali claims that all teams, bar McLaren, have yet to totally understand how to successfully integrate the ECUs into their cars.

“As far as we are concerned, Melbourne saw us experience serious reliability problems, but not because we arrived unprepared,” he told Formula 1’s official website.

“It was rather the case that this year, everyone with the exception of one team had to deal with a new parameter, the MES central control unit, which still has to reveal all its secrets, especially in terms of the way its operation affects the overall functionality of the car.”

Ferrari headed into the season as clear favourites, but has picked up just a win and a fortunate eighth place finish so far due to the reliability problems and driver mistakes.

Felipe Massa in particular has struggled in the opening two grands prix, retiring from both.

Domenicali admits the team’s early points haul is not good enough, but he is not blaming one area of the team in particular.

“We cannot be satisfied with having only picked up 11 points from the 36 on offer,” he said.

“However, this is the responsibility of the team as a whole, its manager, engineers, mechanics and, of course, the drivers: all of us have to improve our performance to reach the standard to which we aspire.”

He added that although it was still too soon to predict how the title battle will shape up, BMW’s strong early-season form meant there were now three teams in the hunt for race victories.

“I think it is still a bit early to make definitive predictions, but from what we saw in Australia and Malaysia there are at least three teams that are very competitive and Ferrari is one of them,” he said.