Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo says the Italian squad plans to shut down its wind tunnel in order to verify it is working properly.
The Italian squad suffered issues with data correlation during the 2011 season, with its car not delivering the increase in downforce that wind tunnel data suggested some updates should offer.
Di Montezemolo believes the team’s performance this year has also been affected by the inconsistency of the wind tunnel data, and says that Ferrari’s team boss Stefano Domenicali has made the decision to shut it down during the winter until the problems are fixed.
Last year, the Maranello squad revealed it was using Toyota’s wind tunnel in order to develop its car.
“The real trouble is that sometimes the data matches and this creates even more confusion,” Montezemolo was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Domenicali has reached a conclusion: to shut down our wind tunnel for a while and do our tests elsewhere, in order to verify and re-calibrate everything. It will take time.
“I don’t know whether this will happen in December or January, it’s up to him: I have absolute faith in Domenicali.”
Montezemolo insisted it is vital for the team to get more out of its car in order to allow Fernando Alonso to defend his current championship advantage.
The Spaniard is currently leading Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel by 29 points with six races left.
“We need to improve the car, it’s fundamental,” Montezemolo added. “We need to be sure that the things tried in the factory can be confirmed on the track.”
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