Ferrari cannot lose points in China
In an interview published on the official Scuderia Ferrari website, Stefano Domenicali does not hide his disappointment following Fernando Alonso's retirement in Malaysia, while turning towards the near future and the Chinese Grand Prix, during which he believes his team cannot afford to lose points.
Leader at this stage of the season last year, with 35 points, Fernando Alonso is not having the same success in 2013, due to an early retirement during the second lap of the Malaysian Grand Prix. This happened when the front wing of the Ferrari F138 – damaged from contact with Red Bull No. 1 – got lodged under his front end, forcing him to go straight at the end of the pit straight. With his score stuck at 18 points after Melbourne, the Spaniard is now 22 points behind the championship leader, Sebastian Vettel, against whom he fought until the last race for the title in 2012.
An unfinished Grand Prix during which the Asturian bull would have undoubtedly shone, according to his team manager Stefano Domenicali: « I think he would have had a very good race and we certainly could have achieved our goals. But a marathon lies ahead of us and what is important […] is to forget Malaysia. »
With 17 races remaining, the season indeed seems far from having taken its definitive turn, but S. Domenicali would have still wanted to quickly turn the page on Malaysia: « Ideally, we would have liked to get back on track right away to put behind us the rough patch caused by Malaysia. Unfortunately, there is a break first, during which we need to put everything back in order and focus a lot because we cannot afford to lose points [in China] as well. »
China, which will be the next destination for the Formula 1 world, is expected to see the arrival of an improved Ferrari F138: « Shanghai is yet another different circuit, where we need to bring developments to the car and maximize what we already have to get the most out of the entire package. The most important thing is to understand the true performance level of the car. It is certainly positive, but we need to continue to make progress. » A better understanding of the cars inevitably goes through « understanding the tires, because this will be the theme of the year. »
But China is just one step in a long season, and the Scuderia director is not too focused on the snapshot of the start of the season: « There will be many races where we will see, like in Malaysia, a blurred picture of those who will take big points. »
The Italian intends to capitalize on the tensions that surfaced in Sepang to gain an advantage: « I hope that [what happened to us] will happen to others too, because given the situation in some teams, there will certainly be a lot of tension. I don’t want to [talk too much] about others. I want to stay focused on our own team and then, if others have problems, we must take advantage of it. »
