Scuderia
Ferrari Marlboro left a damp Silverstone on Sunday with
five points and a sour taste after what team principal
Stefano Domenicali described as "a Sunday to forget."
Having said that, Domenicali was also taking a positive
angle from it. "It's also a Sunday that we need to
remember - not only a Sunday - a weekend that we need to
remember in order to be focused on the job that we have
to do at home. Really, all of us are looking forward to
the next race weekend because for sure this is not our
standard, and that, for sure, it is something that we
would like to avoid, but that's racing."
Weather forecasting played a big part in making the
right moves regarding pit stops and tyres at the right
moment. "It was very close because that was the key
point," said Domenicali. "Unfortunately weather is very
unpredictable, it's changing very quickly. For sure we
need to think how to be more pro-active on that specific
point."
A case in point was eventual fourth placed finisher Kimi
Raikkonen's first pit stop. "We didn't put too much fuel
in Kimi's car, because at that moment, you could have
expected the track conditions to be getting better and
better. Then you arrive at a moment when you need to
swap the tyres maybe to dry conditions, you never know,
because that's the consideration that you have to have
in mind when you decide the length of the second stint.
"Of course, at that moment, we didn't change the tyres
because that was our thinking on the evolution of the
track and we also saw the other two drivers who didn't
change in those two laps were quite good, so that was
the reason why we didn't change. And of course,
retrospectively, it was the wrong decision."
Meanwhile Felipe Massa had a terrible race to last
place. "I think it was a difficult race for Felipe,"
said Domenicali. "Of course the thing that we need to
bear in mind is that it was the team's fault not to give
him the chance to do another run yesterday in
qualifying. It's always difficult to have a nice race
when you are in the middle of the field in these
conditions. Then of course, after the first pit stop,
the race, as we said, because of the situation, was
almost over."
In spite of coming away from Silverstone with just five
points, Domenicali was still able to draw positives from
the team's situation, whereby Ferrari still leads the
Constructors' championship by 14 points. "The good point
in a way is that there is a very tight situation in the
championship and that's frustrating in a way because of
course with all these lost points, our main competitors
are very close to us. We need to look ahead and work,
keep the head up so we may have these Sundays. We need
to be really focused for the next Grand Prix.
"I've always said since the beginning it will be a very
tight championship. I was laughing, in a way, when I saw
before the weekend that people were saying, OK, this
Silverstone, you can fly away (into the distance). We
know that it's not possible, it's not true. The only
thing that we can say is that of course if we put on one
side the performance of the car and on the other side
the reliability, speaking of all things apart from
performance, this is something that we need to think
about carefully because a lot of points went away in
that respect, so it will be a very challenging second
part of the season."
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