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Ferrari simulator needs 'a lot of work' - de la Rosa

ESPN Staff
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Pedro de la Rosa: "You can imagine where we are, we have a lot of work to do and that's why they hired me" © Sutton Images
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Pedro de la Rosa says Ferrari's simulator needs "a lot of work" and that his old team McLaren has one "a few years" ahead of its rivals.

De la Rosa has been hired to help Ferrari develop its simulator programme and completed a day's testing at Jerez on Friday to get a feel for the car on the track. As McLaren's test driver from 2003 to 2009, de la Rosa is well acquainted with the simulator in Woking - considered to be the best in F1 - and said it would take time for Ferrari's to operate at the same level.

"We need to work," he said. "The whole point of having me here was to help understand the car and accelerate the whole simulation programme. You can imagine where we are, we have a lot of work to do and that's why they hired me as well, to put my little contribution in. We are not where we want to be but I am very comfortable with the people we have around. The determination now is to make the next step in the simulation programme.

Asked to compare the simulator at Maranello to the one he used at Woking, de la Rosa said: "Let's be realistic, the McLaren simulator started in 2003 so they are obviously a few years ahead of schedule compared to other teams. We'll see, but the whole reason I'm here is to accelerate this process. We are not sure if it will take six months, one year or two years but we have to work flat out to catch up. There is no testing unfortunately and this is a big handicap for all the teams that don't have a very developed simulator."

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