Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali bullish on 2012 team prospects

On the back of a disappointing 2011 campaign, Ferrari has undertaken an extensive staffing reshuffle, and promised a more aggressive approach to car design, for next year.

Those efforts appear to be paying off, with Domenicali stating that he is bullish about the step forward that Ferrari can make, and that its 2012 car will be a good deal better.

"That is what I want and that is what I hope," said Domenicali. "And considering the persons that are around in the factory, that is what I believe will happen next year.

"But the facts come out when you go on the track. The only thing I can say is that we have put down targets that are very aggressive and we work around these targets.

"We need to wait and see what the others are doing and wait and see where the cars will be in the first qualifying in Australia. But I am confident we will do a good job."

Domenicali said that the troubles of this season had highlighted that Ferrari needed to improve all aspects of its car if it was to produce something that could take the fight to Red Bull Racing next year.

"We know we have to improve the car all around because otherwise you cannot be competitive," he said. "For sure the main area of improvement is aerodynamics and, with the regulations, this is the reason why we have anticipated the development of the car.

"We try to have more time in the wind tunnel, try to work as hard as we can in the new situation where we can rely more on the data we are analysing - work hard, head down and looking forward to coming back next year."