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Domenicali aiming for perfection in 2011

Stefano Domenicali has high expectations ahead of the 2011 season © Getty Images

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Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali has vowed to rule out errors in 2011 as his team aims for a "perfect" season.

Ferrari had a mixed season in 2010 as it spent the first half of the year struggling to retrofit a McLaren-style F-duct and Red Bull-style blown diffuser, while the second half was spent playing catch-up on the track. By the final race in Abu Dhabi Fernando Alonso was in contention for the drivers' title, only for the team to make a strategic blunder and scupper his chances.

"In 2010 we just missed out on the drivers' title with Fernando Alonso and we came third in the constructors' championship," Domenicali said at the Wrooom media event. "The target for 2011 is as easy to say as it is hard to achieve - it requires taking one step forward in the drivers' championship and two in the one for the teams'. These have to be our targets because we are Ferrari.

"To manage it we want to have a car that is super-competitive and reliable from the very start. We know that we will have to be perfect, including in how we react to all the events that can crop up in a race weekend - because when the opponents are so strong and numerous this is what you need if you aspire to win."

The man behind the flawed Abu Dhabi strategy, Chris Dyer, has been replaced by ex-McLaren designer Pat Fry as head of engineering. However, Domenicali stressed the swap was not a knee-jerk reaction.

"For a while we were thinking of improving the team in certain areas so this decision was not taken on impulse after what happened in Abu Dhabi - if anything it was just brought forward. Pat will have the responsibility of running all the track activities both technical and relating to the drivers.

"To do that in the most effective way, together with the race engineers, he will also have the support of the tools that will be available and improved by a new technical body that we have created: the Operations Research department, which will be headed by new arrival [from Red Bull] Neil Martin. This department will also have the job of improving the integration between simulator, wind tunnel and technical office. There will be no other changes."

Ferrari will launch its 2011 car on January 28 and intends to hit the track the same day at Fiorano for a promotional video shoot.

"The car that you will see at the Maranello launch will be very different from the one that makes its debut on March 13 in Bahrain," added Domenicali. "We will continue to develop the car up to the last available day, as we believe the other teams will."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.