06/07/2008
NEWS STORY
Stefano, put us onto the pit wall at the time of the first stops. You've got Kimi whose been catching Lewis, clearly Lewis has taken more out of his tyres, Kimi is in better shape. First of all you don't decide to put more fuel in than Lewis, or to put in a reasonable amount in, secondly you leave the tyres on, and then, when it's quite clear that he's really struggling, he stays out for a long time, presumably until the one-stop window but did it really have to be that long?
Stefano Domenicali: I think that what you said is exactly what has happened but the only thing is that we didn't put too much fuel in Kimi's car, because at that moment, you could have expected the track condition 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.
Can you summarise the team's position as to what happened in Felipe's race?
SD: I think it was a difficult race for Felipe. Of course the thing that we need to bear in mind is the fault that was on us as a team, not to give him the chance to do another run yesterday in qualifying, so it's always difficult to have a nice result when you are in the middle of the field in this condition. Then of course, after the first pit stop, the race, as we said, because of the situation, is almost over. It is a Sunday to forget and in terms of the sporting result, it's 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, there will be a lot, and really, all of us are looking forward to the next weekend because for sure that's not our standard, and that, for sure, is something that we would like to avoid, but that's racing.
It seems like today was very much a case of getting the weather forecasting right. How close was the decision between what to do in terms of what the weather was going to do?
SD: It was very close because that was the key point. Unfortunately weather is very unpredictable, it's changing very quickly. For sure it's something that we need to think how to be better pro-active on that specific point.
You always want to learn from mistakes and move on and not make them again, but if you look back at the last three wet races that we've had…
SD: Last two, because the first one, that is Fuji, something that is not connected to us. But I take the point. Taking away the first Fuji thing, which, as I said, is not connected to any strategic decision, but was something different, for sure these two, the last two races in those conditions show that we need to improve in these conditions.
Stefano, Felipe spun five times. Did he have a problem with the car or was it just his bad luck today?
SD: Yeah, I think that it's always difficult when you are in that situation, it was a difficult race for the team, when I speak about the team, I am speaking about the team and the drivers. 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 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, I don't want to remember the song of a British group but anyway… we need to be really focused for the next Grand Prix.
We're now at the midpoint of the season, 14 points between you and the second placed team, which is less than a one-two victory. Any comment on that?
SD: I've always said at the beginning it will be a very tight championship. I was laughing, in a way, when I saw before the weekend, 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.