Ferrari says its priority in the future must be to ensure its car can use its tires better, after again seeing its form slump on harder compound rubber during the Belgian Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso had been a close match for Red Bull Racing duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber on the soft tire at Spa, but he fell away dramatically in the closing stages after his switch to the medium tire.
Ferrari had experienced similar issues earlier in the campaign but appeared to have overcome them. Domenicali feels that the problem's reappearance means the team must now really try and understand what is happening.
"We saw Vettel performing very, very well on the hard tires, so that is why we were focusing on seeing where we were matching them," explained Domenicali. "It is a shame because I think that Fernando did really a great race, always attacking. Unfortunately, we are not happy about the result and the classification, and the other thing that for sure we cannot be happy about is the fact that when the tires were not working at the proper [temperature] range we are not able to match the pace that we should be able to do. That is the biggest task that we need to work on the project for next year."
Ferrari reverted to an older specification rear suspension layout for the Belgian GP, which could have been a factor in explaining why Alonso was not able to use the medium compound as well as he had in most recent races. However, Domenicali was not so sure that the suspension change was a big factor in what happened.
"Honestly I don't know," he said. "We came here with a clear idea that there was not really a problem. I cannot say if that was the problem, because the real problem is that when we have tires working outside the working range of conditions, then we are suffering. This is the problem.
"It is not only related to that. It is related to a lot of factors, and it would be great to have a clear vision of all of that because it would mean we have solved that issue. That is something we need to work on flat-out, to be honest."