Development freeze hits Ferrari challenge

Ferrari's decision to end development of the F60 led to a disappointing performance in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, with Kimi Raikkonen leading the team's challenge down in 13th place on the grid.

While a number of teams introduced upgrades for F1's night race, Ferrari has already ended development of the F60 in order to focus on 2010 - and paid the price as it failed to get either car through to the final phase of qualifying.

Raikkonen at least was able to get into Q2 but he admitted there was nothing he could do about failing to make it into the top ten.

"Unfortunately, today we were just not quick enough to get into Q3 and there was not much we could do about it," he said. "It's logical that, as other cars improve, race after race, we pay a higher price for our decision to stop developing the F60. Tomorrow, we can expect a tough race as it is very difficult to overtake here, so getting into the points will be very difficult.

"It's true that anything can happen on a track like this and we will have to do our best to make the most of every opportunity, maybe getting some help through a good start as we have usually managed in the last few races. As for the tyres, I think that tomorrow, there could be a problem with wear on the softer tyre, even if the situation could improve during the race."

Team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella meanwhile continued to struggle in the second car, admitting that he wasn't confident enough to push to the limit as he managed only the 18th quickest time.

"Obviously, I am disappointed with this result," he said. "I really wanted to do well, but I still haven't managed to find the right level of confidence in this car: it's almost as if it is driving me rather than the other way round. Especially on such a difficult track, I don't have the confidence to go right to the limit. Naturally starting from eighteenth place means I can expect a very difficult race. I will try and make up some places at the start and then make the most of the race pace. Getting into the points would be the maximum, but even that will be a very tough target to reach."

Team boss Stefano Domenicali agreed with Fisichella that points would be a tough target to reach for either driver, although he was quick to point out that reliability could be a major factor.

"If so many of our competitors continue to develop their cars, while we stopped doing so with ours several weeks ago, then the more time goes by, the more we will find ourselves in an ever more difficult situation," he said. "However, what really matters is the race result, where reliability is always the key factor, especially in a race that looks like being very tough and where all sorts of things could happen.

"Clearly, we will be trying to fight our way towards the front, which means it will be difficult to reach our minimum target of finishing in the top eight."