Ferrari plans summer assessment of 2011 progress

Ferrari is not ruling out switching focus to 2012 if this season’s championship campaign continues to falter.

After an appalling performance in Spain a week earlier, the Monaco circuit last weekend suited the 150 Italia car and Fernando Alonso finished second.

The Spaniard, however, admitted afterwards that Sebastian Vettel, who has won five of the six races so far this season, would be a good bet for the title.

"We are not giving up," insisted team boss Stefano Domenicali, according to Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

The next two races next month, in Canada and Europe, will see the same super-soft Pirelli tyre supplied that contributed to Ferrari’s good performance in Monaco.

"The situation in the two championships continues to become more difficult," conceded Domenicali. "But now we’re coming up on two races in which, on paper, we should be competitive.

"Then, before the summer break, we’ll make an assessment," he said.

Before that assessment of the championship situation takes places, there will be new parts in Canada next weekend and then another significant step in early July.

"I’ve been talking to the engineers about the new parts we will have in Montreal, but above all, of the steps forward we must take for Silverstone, when we will be back at a track which requires a lot of aerodynamic downforce," said Alonso.

"That’s where we will really see how our season is going to pan out."