Mar.17 (GMM) Ferrari's poor reliability in Australia was well documented, but former triple world champion Niki Lauda insists that the drivers were arguably the Italian team's weakest link at the 2008 season opener.
"Kimi Raikkonen did not seem like the world champion," the Austrian legend, in the Albert Park paddock, observed to the German newspaper Bild.When trying to pass his rivals on Sunday, Finn Raikkonen on one occasion missed his braking point and sped into the gravel trap, and he later put a wheel on the grass and spun out.Lauda continued to motorline.cc: "I do wonder about him, because he really did everything wrong, but Massa was no better."Everything that they could do wrong, they did do wrong," the former Ferrari racer added.Felipe Massa's main mistake on Sunday was losing control and hitting the wall on the first lap, but he was also slammed by David Coulthard for a collision that ended the Scot's race.Ferrari's bosses did not specifically criticise their drivers after the event, but new team principal Stefano Domenicali admitted that "the whole team has not performed to our usual standard".Before leaving Melbourne, his deputy Luca Baldisserri added: "We did not work well on any level."