F1: Shanghai showers and diffuser defeat may fettle Ferrari

The tables are not simply turmed, they are - literally - rewritten.

For right at the top is a team that didn't exist at the beginning of February - and at the bottom - equal with teams that struggle to be counted amongst the also-rans sits Ferrari. In fact, according to FI.Com's official table, Ferrari is last, behind Force India.

Two races, nil points.

First challenge: to fit a split diffuser, there will have to be a "fundamental redesign" of portions of the car, say the team. That's going to take lots of time and money, they say. But that ignores the fact that they are not actually that far off the pace in absolute speed terms. True, they are not the fastest but they are far from slowest.

Second, find out how Raikkonen ended up on the wrong tyres in a team that wins as many races by strategy as it does by out-and-out pace. The unofficial word is that it was Michael Schumacher's recommendation - and no one dared say "no." That cost the Finn 20 seconds for each lap he was on the wrong tyres.

Third, stop whingeing. For the past two years, Ferrari's little Brazilian has scored nothing in his first two races, gone home, got his head around what he's doing and then gone on to win once and come second once.

The team has gone back to base and gone through a re-organisation. They have created a "task force" to work out what's gone wrong. That means changes on the pit-wall. Again, no one is saying that the one person who should, perhaps, be left behind is a certain former world champion.

Massa, who has (rightly) complained about the idea of racing at a time most sane people are looking at the fading light and heading for the pub, has at last joined the Grand Prix Drivers' Association - the two Ferrari drivers were a notable stand-out-pair, arguably because joining Ferrari requires total commitment to the team and GPDA may be regarded as divided loyalty - no matter that it was originally formed by a Ferrari driver to protect the drivers from being compelled to drive in dangerous conditions. Watching Mark Webber adopting the role of senior driver must have been a shock to Ferrari who think they run the sport.

But Ferrari's next challenge is already set: they have been out testing (is that permitted under this year's rules?) a new front wing. It will push the front of the car down a bit more and improve turn in. All very interesting except for one slight problem: the weather report is for showers in Shanghai.

Ferrari won't like that: all that nice new downforce won't help if it's slippery. And turning in more sharply is likely to keep Kimi spinning, as he has shown a recent tendency to do.

That leaves Ferrari with one option for Sunday: appeal against the conditions. And with a driver in the GPDA, now they can do that, too.