Ferrari wants to draw inspiration from Manchester City’s journey

Last March, before the teams flew to Melbourne and when Scuderia Ferrari’s prospects for success were pessimistic, Stefano Domenicali hoped to draw inspiration from the journey of Italy’s national football team, which won the World Cup in 1982 after a poor start to the tournament. On the official site of the Italian team, after Fernando Alonso stepped onto the podium for the second time in five races, Stefano Domenicali once again indulges in a football parallel by citing a more recent example: Manchester City’s triumph in the English championship.

After having a five-point lead in February over their rival Manchester United, Manchester City had collapsed to the point of being 8 points behind with six games left in the championship. Two defeats of the Red Devils – including one in the Manchester derby – and a draw allowed the Citizens to share the top of the English championship on the eve of the final match. Yet, it was while trailing 2 to 1 against Tony Fernandes’s Queens Park Rangers that Manchester City entered stoppage time, virtually defeated by Manchester United, who were then winning against Sunderland. However, by scoring two goals in the final minutes and seconds of the match, the Citizens pipped their Manchester rivals to the post, thanks to a better goal difference: « You must always believe you can do it, even when the evidence suggests otherwise. There are so many examples in sports that prove this, the most recent being the final of the English football championship » says Stefano Domenicali. « I watched the matches involving the two Manchester teams again and saw the determination with which Roberto Mancini [editor’s note: Manchester City coach] continued to urge his players, even when the situation seemed hopeless. It was an example to follow for everyone involved in sports, and I would like to congratulate him on this significant victory. »

The director of the Scuderia believes that his team must continue to believe in their chances of victories and titles, especially since the championship remains very open with five different winners in five different cars over as many races: « This is even truer in a sport like ours where there are many factors at play. It takes very little to upset the hierarchy between teams, and this rule is even more true when the differences are only a few tenths or hundredths of a second. This year, the winner will be the one who brings the best developments in the shortest time: not having new developments for a few races can make you fall out of the points, given that so many teams have shown themselves capable of fighting for top positions » he emphasizes.

Although Fernando Alonso today shares the top of the drivers’ standings with Sebastian Vettel, Stefano Domenicali is not yet declaring victory: « We have achieved our goal by making a step forward in Spain, but we must continue on this path, especially because the gap that propelled Lewis Hamilton to pole position was still too significant » emphasizes the Italian.