Ferrari to wait longer before 2012 focus switch

Ferrari has decided to wait until after July’s three grands prix before possibly switching its focus to the 2012 season.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali said in Canada two weeks ago that the Italian team will make a decision about the success of this year’s campaign after Silverstone, where the FIA’s hot exhaust blowing ban takes effect.

But Germany’s Speed Week is now reporting that Ferrari, buoyed by stronger performances recently at Monaco and Canada, will now wait until after Valencia, Britain, the Nurburgring and Hungary before deciding if the current 150 Italia car should continue to be aggressively developed.

Ferrari’s chief designer Nikolas Tombazis confirmed: "We have made quite a lot of progress over the past few months and I believe that was visible in recent races and we hope that trend will continue.

"How well these next few races go will decide whether or not we feel we are still in with a chance of fighting for the championships this year, even if we are quite a long way behind in the points," the Greece-born engineer added.