Ferrari vow to focus on reliability

Brazilian Felipe Massa dominated the Barcelona race from pole position, but Raikkonen's day finished after only 11 laps after suffering a problem in the wiring to the alternator of his F2007 car.

The retirement, the first of the season for Ferrari, meant Raikkonen, tied at the top of the championship table before today's race, is now eight points behind leader Lewis Hamilton.

Almondo admitted that Ferrari were very happy with their level of performance, but less so with their reliability.

"I think that our level of performance, particularly in terms of pace and during the race is very, very good," said Almondo after the race. "We are satisfied about that.

"We are, of course, much less satisfied about our level of reliability that we had up to now and we have to concentrate on that.

"If I have to give you numbers; 51 percent we have to concentrate on reliability and the other 49 percent is improving performance."

Ferrari's Head of Track Operations Luca Baldisserri said he was convinced Raikkonen, running third when he retired, had the pace to finish on the podium easily.

"Unfortunately with Kimi we had the failure and we had a DNF so we were not able to give him a car which could show his performance that was improving since the first three races," he said. "I have to say that we are all really happy with the weekend that he's had.

"Unfortunately he had a small issue on the last lap in qualifying, but I have to say that we were choosing a slightly different strategy and I really think we could have had two Ferrari drivers on the podium at the end of today without a problem."

Almondo also praised Massa after the Brazilian scored his second consecutive win, bouncing back from two disappointing races in Australia and Malaysia.

Massa finished fifth in Malaysia after a mistake when trying to pass Hamilton, and Almondo reckons the Brazilian has now reacted to the criticism he was under following the Sepang race.

"Of course, to be criticised is never fine for any of us," said Almondo. "I have to say it can be a reaction to this sort of critics that I received but I think the most appropriate explanation is that Massa reacted as a driver."