Three days after launching his team's 2008 contender, Stefano Domenicali, newly promoted Director of the Gestione Sportiva faced the press on the first day of the team's traditional media get together at Madonna di Campiglio

Stefano what was your feelings about your new responsibilities
Stefano Domenicali: Clearly it is an extraordinary and important responsibility so it is a must on my part to thank our president Luca di Montezemolo and our managing director Jean Todt for this decision. Clearly there is a lot of responsibility but I want to tackle with the spirit that I've always had over the years, so my convention is that concentration, work, a positive approach vis-à-vis all that is to be managed is for the good of the team. From a personal point of view, I'm not changing, I'm the same person as I was before and this is my way of being. Clearly, with this new task, there are maybe some times during which due to my new job, I will have to be slightly different. However the spirit with which I approach this new responsibility is exactly the same. As for the values and principles of our team, they are always the same and each one of us defines them vis-a-vis ones own being, one's own character, personality. This is a fundamental point on which you can be sure of.

We have heard president Montezemolo say that the goal that he would like to achieve in 2008 is to have eight World Championships out of ten. With this goal, do you feel forced to win?
SD: Well, correctly our president must set some ambitious goals but these are goals which I have to say are part of the challenges that Ferrari has always tackled. We always set out to be competitive, obviously, but with the goal of having to win because this is our way of approaching the sporting challenge, since we are speaking about Formula One, so clearly it is a further responsibility on me, but I have always felt that because we have, vis-a-vis ourselves, this is a challenge that each one brings forth, vis-à-vis ourselves. It is something shared by all the persons in the team, shared by our drivers, our partners who invest a lot in us. It is also thanks to them that we can race because let's not forget that we can compete in the World of Formula One thanks to their financial support, thanks to their technological support, without which we could not go on by ourselves and so we would not have managed it without them. Of course it's a responsibility that we have to tackle day-by-day, the fact that we are ambitious, and we are ambitious in all the activities in which we work.

When we speak about changes within the rules in the near future. What is the Ferrari position concerning this issue?
SD: I think that Formula One must be a stimulating activity, stimulating from all points of view, the technology point of view in terms of research, in terms of the show, but obviously it must be fully aware of the fact that since we are speaking about an important business, some mechanisms of reference cannot do without the fact that even if we have all the major car manufacturers involved there are some limits, some financial limits that we have to consider. This is an issue which we have to focus on. I repeat: let's not forget that Formula One has always been the top formula and we have to work with this in mine, but we should not exclude anything, we only have to reason without bringing forth ideas which after two days or after two months may become counter-productive to Formula One. And if you think about Formula One, and yes, attention to costs is fundamental for the future, and I repeat that of this there is no doubt of this. However, at the same time we have to tackle some other themes, topics, other issues, the fact that we have to be closer to people. Let's not forget the passion that Formula One conveys to fans throughout the world, to all those who those who see the sport, especially as far as we are concerned, who watch Grands Prix on TVs or at the race tracks, and I think that's important and I think we have to focus on this show side of the race tracks, because we should not lose track of the goals of this wonderful sport.

Do you think that Ferrari should intervene with the FIA so as to simplify their approach?
SD: Firstly, the FIA was able to manage really, really complicated situations in the past in a timely manner and in a rapid manner when you consider the difficulties and the problems that were involved. This is an issue which the world of Formula One must work on together, we must set the goal of improving this point. The FIA, over the last few years, has changed a lot, it has grown but it is now tackling a mix of characters and of teams that means that the people who must take decisions within the FIA must take decisions within a structure that can allow them to decide rapidly. The FIA is aware of this. We have tackled the issues in the recent meetings and I am convinced that from this point of view there is going to be a change within the FIA.

How can you ensure that there will not be another issue like that of Stepney?
SD: I believe that from a certain view, teams and Ferrari is among them, have done a lot in terms of industrial security, so using one's own know-how to protect one's own procedure and to protect this within the heritage of one's own firm. But this I think is a problem which is different. Here we are speaking about persons, who, due to the role, due to the responsibility that they played within the organisation, there are no procedures which may work. It is an issue of betrayal of values. It was an issue of respect the principals of loyalty, sporting loyalty. There are no systems which may work. Once you have a relevant position within any organisation then it's a problem of loyalty, it's a problem of values which you must have within yourself. This is one issue. As for the safety and protection of our know-how, that's an issue on which Ferrari has invested a lot and continues to invest because clearly we do not want to lose grip of the needs of being secure.