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F2012 still needs more downforce - Domenicali

The F2012 has improved since an upgrade ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso
• |
• Stefano Domenicali

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali says the F2012 is still lacking downforce despite a significant improvement in its performances over the last two races.

The Italian team is now third in the constructors' championship after scoring 41 of its 86 points at the Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix over the last few weeks. After highlighting traction and top speed as two of its problem areas earlier in the season, Ferrari introduced a major upgrade to the F2012 in Spain, which heralded a step up in peformance especially in qualifying. But Domenicali says there is still plenty of work to do.

"We must not forget that we still need to close the gap, working right to the end [of the season], always striving to improve the car," he told Ferrari's website. "The fact the classification is so close means there are a lot of strong competitors. Therefore, I repeat that what we need to do is to work on the development of the car at home to bring to the track what it is we are lacking.

"The most important thing I would say is to get more downforce on the car without losing efficiency. So we need to maintain speed while having enough downforce to maintain traction in the slow corners, while maintaining the strong points of the car, which are in any case important."

Domenicali said updates ahead of the next race in Canada would be specifically aimed at getting the most out of the car on the long straights and in the low-speed traction zones in Montreal.

"Inevitably we will bring some updates aimed at the Canadian track, as indeed we plan to do at all the races, as will everyone else. This championship in the end will be won by whoever is able to bring to the track things that work well on the car and specifically those who know how to get the tyres working in perfect fashion."

Championship leader Fernando Alonso believes the team's work since the Mugello test has made a big difference to the car, but that maintaining the momentum would be crucial for his title chances.

"Everything seems to work, not as at the start of the championship when some of the updates were negative and we were a little bit lost, so now we are happy not for the result, not for the pace which we understand that we need to improve - we are not the fastest out there - but happy for the direction that it seems we are in," he said in Monaco. "Everything that we put on the car seems positive, so the next couple of weeks will be important."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.