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“FELIPE’S weekend was fantastic and this was due to his
capability—and to the car of course.” That’s how
Ferrari’s technical director Mario Almondo summarized
Felipe Massa’s win in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, but
both Almondo and sporting director Stefano Domenicali
paid tribute to the Brazilian’s ability to turn around
his performance following a poor start and losing the
Malaysian Grand Prix to Fernando Alonso the week before.
“It was
not possible to do much work since the last race,”
continued Almondo. “Of course, we went through videos
and all that stuff, looking at last year’s race and the
last start, trying to go into as much detail as we
could, but you can’t do anything specific.
“This is
the difficult part of the job, because the success of
today is linked to Felipe’s mental attitude which I have
to say was fantastic. The concentration is evident to
everybody. The car gave him the possibility to do what
he did but basically it’s very good revenge for him and
we are very happy for him.
Domenicali explained further: “Felipe’s strength was to
react straightaway from one week ago in Malaysia.
Everyone said that Felipe was no longer a driver. As
always you need to look at the average, and I think that
he reacted very, very well and that shows his character.
I think that he’s grown a lot, because he wanted to show
first to himself and also to all of us who he is. For
sure, his strength is that he had a great reaction in
terms of behavior and approach to this race.”
Domenicali went on to talk about teammate Kimi Raikkonen,
who finished third on Sunday. “Kimi’s best
characteristic is that he’s always cool, he’s always
looking behind the fence. He’s not emotionally
involved—at least, apparently not—because he’s a thinker
and you can see that. If you look at the numbers, Kimi’s
leading the championship with the others of course, but
he’s there, so that’s his strength.”
Almondo
added, “For sure after this weekend we can say that both
drivers have a very good capability of reaction to
difficult situations; that’s important.”
But both
men warned of the capabilities of their two main rivals:
McLaren and BMW Sauber. “We know that McLaren is very
strong,” said Domenicali. “We know they push us to work
more than we should. We always said, from the beginning,
that we know that this is a very difficult championship,
that’s for sure. McLaren is the main competitor but also
BMW has grown a lot. Today and also the last race in
Malaysia have shown that, so the championship is really
very, very tight and we have to work, our drivers have
to work on details and everything, but that is part of
the game, and also, on the other hand, they have to
work.”
Almondo
also cautioned: “If you are surprised that someone is
doing a good job, you are under-rating them and that’s
something we never do, to be honest.”
With a
four-week gap to the next race in Spain, all 11 teams
will be hard at work with testing and developments, as
well as sorting out the odd mystery. Raikkonen had
mentioned his car’s first-lap performance. “We can’t
talk about a specific problem but an optimization that
has to be done on the first lap and in handling the
car,” said Almondo. “His driving style is something that
we are evolving in the direction of better performance
and use of the car and the package of the car plus the
tires, and this, as I said, is a normal and natural
process that takes more time.
“The
only thing that we can do is work as hard as we can with
our development program. There will be an important aero
package and a few other things. We have an aerodynamic
test at Vairano and then in Barcelona before the race.
It’s up to our competitors to do more than what we are
going to do. I cannot make any prediction on what we
have to do.”
Asked if
there is a new energy in the team, as the two drivers
fought against one another but also their rivals,
Domenicali said, “From our side, just don’t forget that
we are working for Ferrari, that’s the team and for us
that’s the most important thing to do. For sure it’s
great to see two drivers that are challenging in a very
sporting way, they are very, very strong and I’m pretty
sure the championship will be fantastic this year,
because we have seen some other drivers that are very
strong. The challenge is really to be in front of them,
so it’s really good.”
Asked if
this was a different kind of the championship to manage,
after years of dominance by Michael Schumacher,
Domenicali replied: “No, as always the track will give
the answer at the end. For us, it’s important that they
will have maximum support from the team, both from an
engineering point and from a psychological point of view
and from the motivation point of view, and then once
again, it’s the lap time and the track that will give
the answer.” |
