04/06/2013
NEWS STORY
Ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, Stefano Domenicali reveals that Felipe Massa has been given a new chassis following his Monaco crashes.
A crash in final practice and another early in the race compounded a miserable weekend for the Maranello outfit, coming, as it did, two weeks after a double podium result for the Italian team.
Seeking to put Monaco well and truly behind him, Domenicali is looking forward to an altogether different weekend in Canada.
"The Monaco GP was not an easy weekend for the team," he told the team's website "Since then, we have been working hard; first of all studying all the data to see why we had not performed as expected and from that point, we have been looking ahead, setting up the cars in the completely different configuration required of Montreal, as we go from the highest downforce track of the year to the one where we will use the least downforce of any track we have visited so far this season."
Having revealed that Massa will benefit from a "completely new chassis", Domenicali continued: "Of course we also focussed on the problems we had with reliability, which absolutely had to be resolved. What is sure is that the team is completely motivated and we are determined to regard what happened in Monaco as an isolated incident.
"Looking at the first six races overall, our car has proved to be strong with very good characteristics in the majority of cases, even if, at times, other teams have proved to be faster," he added. "I think the Montreal circuit should allow us to exploit those strong points such as braking, which is a key factor at this track, so let's hope that works in our favour. However, on the other hand, we must ensure we keep working on the areas where our car is not yet where it should be."
The scene of this weekend's race has a special place in the hearts of the Tifosi, what with being named in honour of the legendary Gilles Villeneuve. At the time the French-Canadian was wowing race fans around the world, Domenicali was just a youngster growing up in Imola, which, like Villeneuve, has a special place in the history of F1.
"As a kid, I was part of the crowd at Imola, and when I was a schoolboy I would get work helping the organisation at the circuit," recalled Domenicali. "But I remember Gilles as a great driver, a great personality and a man of passion who was always able to inspire and enthuse all Ferrari fans and everyone who followed Formula 1 at that time."