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Q & A with Stefano Domenicali

Q. Does victory feel any better in your new position compared to last year when you were team manager?

Stefano Domenicali: Honestly, we are very happy in a way, because of course want to show the reaction of Ferrari. After a very different weekend in Australia, that was not really unfortunately our standard or it was something that was difficult to digest, first of all, from us.

So I'm very happy because we show that the team can do a great job. I think the best thing that I have seen is that we kept cool and calm as we are normally, without softening, in a negative way, the pressure that is normal when you have such a difficult start. But that's the main reason why I'm happy, to be honest.

Q. Is there a sense of relief after the problems in Australia, to come back with victory here?

SD: No, I think the sense of relief is connected to the fact that we really showed what is our potential. We were strong all weekend, very good pace on both tyre specs and that is, for us, the main thing, that is positive.

We knew that our car was good, so that's the reason why we are happy, partially, in a way, because of course what we want is to have let's say 18 points, because that's the way it has to be, that's the way we have to think and looking at the situation, it's like a bitter feeling because of course these are very important points. Nothing is lost because it's a very very long championship but points are always points.

Q. What happened to Felipe?

SD: He went on the kerb and now we need to understand if he lost the car or something has happened at that specific moment but it's not clear yet.

Q. After the engine failures in Australia, obviously you made some precautions here, but have you been 100 percent sure or was there still some nervous feeling about it?

SD: We are always sure after the chequered flag, and not enough because the chequered flag has to last two times for the engine and four times for the gearbox so for sure, what I can say is that in another view, the reliability is the main issue that we need to be very strong on.

Really, I'm not joking, it's really a different championship this year, with the four race gearbox, you never relax and this is the reason why we need to be focused on the way we are working in trying to improve every time the quality of everything, the method of working and this is really the most important thing where we will work very hard in the next days.

Q. Do the engines remain a big concern because of the problems that Force India and Toro Rosso had this weekend?

SD: It is a concern in a positive way. Of course we want to be sure 100 percent to understand what has happened and because our customers have to be satisfied what we are doing and of course we are not happy at all if we have something broken from our side, so we need to understand properly, we need to react and this is the reason why I say that is for sure our main target for the next days.

Q. The drivers swapped the lead in the pitstop. The same thing happened last year in France last year, I think and somewhere else as well. How difficult is it going to be to manage them this year to keep them both happy, one gets pole, but the other one then gets the lead at the stops?

SD: No, it's not very difficult, it's part of the work of the team. It's a fact that we have two very good drivers, they know the rules, they respect the rules and they can fight on the track, very free, without doing any damage, both for them and for the team.

On that respect, of course we discuss, also this morning, the way to handle the start because it was creating a moment and the way we did this was to check the starts in previous years, more than last year, and I think we did a good on that, and also on the strategy, our choice was really good. We didn't want to stress the tyres with a very heavy fuel load on the car and I think on that the team worked very well.

Q. Felipe did seem to be leaning on Kimi a bit going down to the first corner.

SD: No. When you're racing, you try to have a line, we discuss how to cope with that. Honestly, it was good.

Q. You said in Italian the McLarens were maybe not at their real level here...

SD: I think that for sure it's exactly the same feeling as we said after Australia, when everyone said McLaren are in another world and we said OK, they did a great race no doubt but here we are and we will see that they have not really had a great weekend, but this doesn't say that they are like that.

For sure they behaved differently, they didn't have a great weekend in terms of performance but for sure they will be very strong in Bahrain, and what I can say is that for sure we have seen that also BMW had a great weekend and they are there. We need to respect them and we will for sure… they will be in the middle of the field for sure in order to take points from us, from McLaren, so we need to have a lot of respect for them.

Q. Will it make the championship harder, because BMW eventually can take points away from your or from McLaren?

SD: Absolutely, I think as we said at the beginning of the season, the championship this year is very very long and the fact that we will have one more competitor that shows that they are good, for sure is an added element to take into consideration. Today, honestly, we were very strong, we took it very easy in the last part of the race because we wanted to save the car and bring it home because for sure for us it was so important to take the chequered flag.

Q. What about Bahrain?

SD: For sure the conditions are very different, we tested in February, now it's April, the temperatures are different but for sure we did a good test there and let's hope that it will bring some positive result being there in February.

Q & A with Jean Todt and Stefano Domenicali

Q. Can you both clarify the events which led to both cars having to pit at the start of the race?

Jean Todt: I will let Stefano go into more detail, but we simply didn't have the information. I remember talking a few minutes before the start with Hamashima, with the technical direction of Bridgestone, suggesting that he thought that was a more appropriate tyres to start the race. It was a big surprise, it was even a shock to have this information.

I was saying in Italian earlier, it was very easy to give the information on the monitor, as happened very often when there is information that is so information, and when they said to us that the information was given, when Stefano checked on his e-mail, it arrived at 13.37 and you have the document here? So just for the clarity. Unfortunately, it was too late to put on the full wet tyres.

Stefano Domenicali: I just wanted to add one thing, that for sure the habit of using the e-mail within the teams and race control is done by the normal documentations, like information on the classification, on the event or something like that.

But normally when there is some information that is very sensitive, related to the running - in this case, of the race – this information should be circulated as is written on the sporting regulation article 15.1 with the receipt that has to be acknowledged by the team.

This is something that is there, but in any case I think that for sure, you can imagine that it would have been very stupid knowing that and doing the opposite. We didn't know and that's it and it was not possible to take a decision like that. To go on a certain tyre, as Mr Todt said, was a decision done from the strategic point of view, of course.

Q. Stefano, you won in Malaysia back in '01 doing the same thing, starting on the intermediates. Is it not fair to say that, if there is a safety car, you generally think that you probably won't need the extreme wet because the race won't start until the track is in better condition?

SD: That's a consideration from the strategic point of view that for sure teams can do, and this is the reason why maybe we took that direction. If you look at behind the safety, also in Nurburgring you had drivers with normal wet tyres that started and of course this was new and once again, we didn't know.

Q. Did anybody from the FIA say that after three minutes lying on the grid you were on the wrong tyres?

SD: No.

JT: Maybe you can explain after the race when you went to meet the stewards how they commented on this incident.

SD: Very briefly, of course we went straightaway at the end of the race just to understand what had happened. They understood our point and in a way that's a note that has to come from the stewards as you know and basically they were apologising for the fact that they used the usual system of using the e-mail for normal communication also for this thing and that's what they said.

Q. Jean, were you radioed to come into the pits or did they use the black and orange flag?

SD: As is written on the note, the need for the black and orange flag was in case the driver was continuing to drive in that condition but we called the guys in before.

Q. Stefano, does this e-mail information come together to every team at the same time? And some other teams received that at the right time? What could have happened? And the second question is that Massa spun on the second or third lap. Don't you think that they would have had to stop and change tyres because it was too slippery for your drivers?

SD: Given the answer to the first question is once again, I think that with this kind of information we should know through official channels that are page three (on the monitor) or that we take notification by writing that we acknowledge that.

In any case you are sure that you are sending the message at the same time but you are not sure at one time the message is received because we have different systems with different channels and through different controls, firewalls and so on so you are definitely sure what time it arrives but not what time you will receive it.

JT: Let me add something. Before the start of the race, there was a very small drizzle which helped us to make the decision to take these tyres and once the start happened, then the rain got much more intense, so definitely if we would have the choice, knowing that rain would increase as it did, it would probably have been very different.

But we made the choice before the start of the race, from what we saw, and as I said earlier, if we would have been informed about the no choice for tyres, then it would have been easier for us.

Q. At the end, you were ready to call them in anyway, with or without this problem with the e-mail?

JT: No, we were not ready to call them, but I was explaining why we decided on this choice.

Q. Jean, basically it was an error on the part of the governing body, so is there a mechanism where you can make an official complaint or whatever, or you just accept their apologies?

JT: We unfortunately can only accept that it came too late and probably the communication should have been... not probably, surely the communication should have been different.

Q. Can you just clarify the 13:37 time, was that the time that it was sent, or the time that it was received?

SD: Received, on our PC.

Q. Do you know what time it was sent?

SD: No, I cannot see that on my PC, but in any case, I think once again it is important to stress the fact that there are different ways of communication. Very important communications should be issued using a very direct system, because you aren't necessarily in the office at that time.

Q. Is it not only a penalty is involved that you have to sign otherwise…

SD: No, no. There is no penalty. If you look at article 15.1 it's not like that. It's written that during the course of the event, any kind of exceptional information that the stewards can give has to be given to the team and the team has to acknowledge that.

Q. In the early stages of the race when you fuelled both cars, if you had stayed under the safety car for the whole race, you probably would have won, so to have to have a dialogue with the FIA about whether you were allowed to refuel at that time, or did you just take it as read that the pitlane was open behind the safety car and you were free to refuel?

SD: The pitlane was open straight away since the beginning because all the cars were behind the safety car in a queue so it was clear that we could have refuelled straight away and we did so, but of course, the length of the safety car period in the race, because of the two hours time limit, makes something to think on the pit wall because you always need to think that if that pace is going to continue for I don't know how many laps, the race could have been shorter for sure. All these points have to be taken into consideration while there is a discussion with the engineers on the pit wall.

Q. Jean. is there any chance of Alonso moving to Ferrari next year?

JT: No, zero per cent, zero per cent, zero. Yeah. We have two fantastic drivers, Kimi, Felipe, we are very happy with them, and they are under contract. As I said before, will respect a contract for a guy cleaning the floor so you can imagine that I will respect a contract. If we have contracts we will respect them.

Q. What is the regulation regarding the tyres for a race started under the safety car?

SD: Honestly there's no rule in that respect because in fact this was a note issued by the stewards for safety reasons, but there was not any kind of rules connected to that. In fact, as we said before, before this note, you have teams with normal tyres or extreme wet tyres so there is no rule in that respect.

Q. Looking at the forecast for this race, especially for Raikkonen, was it not too big a gamble to make him start with a different kind of tyres compared to the others? Specially because I know that Massa wanted to start with the heavy ones but Raikkonen said no, it's better to go with the intermediate ones.

JT: To clarify the situation, we did not know what the others were going to use. We know what they are going to use when you take the blankets off the tyres.

Q. Now you've only got Kimi Raikkonen with a chance in the championship, how will you manage the two drivers and how will you approach. Are you still confident you can attack McLaren?

JT: You know what happened to Alonso today could happen to Hamilton next week. I was told that the weather prediction is maybe rain so we know that so many things can happen. If you see today how many cars had incidents. I think race by race, lap by lap and then we will see. There's definitely now only one driver in the team who can mathematically pretend to be drivers' champion.

Q. Is Massa happy to help Kimi?

JT: I don't know if it's the right word. I don't think a driver can be very happy to know that he cannot pretend to be champion. I have a deep respect for the drivers but they are employees of the company, as we are all employees of the company so we always have to see what is the best for the company. That was the case at the beginning of this race too.

Q. Stefano, what do you feel about the stewards changing the rules regarding the tyres, there isn't really a rule as to what tyre you start on under a safety car.

SD: We can accept the fact that for any reason they may use… consider the sporting code, they can do something, of that there is no doubt, but what is important to know is to know it in advance so we can react. By knowing that in the proper time, it was an easier choice because that was the thing for everyone so once again that's the thing that was not correct today.

JT: Saying that, I think it should probably be very wise to write a rule where you say that if you start under the safety car, then you have to fit full wet tyres. That would probably be a good rule.

Q. Could you clarify for me why McLaren was able to make just one stop and you needed to refuel at the second one. Do you think they were heavier than you yesterday or did you have some more consumption because you had to run and catch all the people?

JT: I think it's quite easy. We stopped on lap 14 for Felipe so there were still 52 laps before the end of the race. With Kimi it was lap 15, so 51 before the end of the race. Alonso stopped lap 27, so 40 laps and Hamilton 28, which means 39. Simply, we don't have the fuel tank capacity which is allowing us to do 52 laps. That was the only reason.

Q. Did you also refuel when you changed the tyres the first time?

JT: Yes, but still, last time we stopped was lap 15, it means 52, you could have stopped every lap from the lap 2 to lap 15 but it was not enough. If you take your piece of paper and write you will understand very clearly. I'm sure you can manage.

Q. If the e-mail was sent to 11 teams at the same time and one of those teams doesn't get it, it would seem to suggest that the team's e-mail system was to blame rather than the FIA's system.

SD: What is simple… is clear in my view, the e-mail system is very good if you circulate documents that are not relevant to the imminent things that are happening. It's easier, instead, to have copies of the document. Once again, you cannot think that everyone is in the office at any time watching for e-mail, that's pretty clear in my view. If you look, the meaning of what can be circulated is quite easy. The reason why there is such a rule is because you have to be sure that everyone knows what is going to happen. Unfortunately this time it didn't happen.

Q. Are you going to review your e-mail system?

SD: Once again, you cannot think we are in front of e-mail system all the time. This is the reason why that it is written in the sporting code that the team has to acknowledge what you are receiving.

JT: And again, we are not blaming the FIA. We simply did not get the information, so we try to understand why did not get the information. We just to put things right. And you know, if we got the information, we would not have challenged the information, we would have put on full wet tyres.

Q. Does it mean you're going to go back to Maranello and look for a place where you can perhaps tighten your organisation, because it does seem like Ferrari versus McLaren, Ferrari were the weaker team when it comes to organisation.

JT: Again, the organisation… if we don't know the information… you know, we could speak the whole night about it. We can not guess… invent the information, so we did not get the information. That's simple, and then our choice was to put on these tyres not having the information.

If we realise that some of our people were sleeping rather than reading the e-mail or something then we can understand but at the moment, and again, without blaming anybody, we feel that such important information ... Yesterday, for example, the free practice was delayed first 15 minutes, then five, then ten so it was very easy to give the information in a way that you are sure that teams will understand the information, will get the information and it was not the case today.

And again, without giving accusation to anybody, when Stefano saw the responsible of the race, they apologised for the way it was done.

Q. Jean, you've seen many drivers, can I just get your comments on Lewis Hamilton, in the 15th race of his career, with a good chance of winning the championship... Can I get your opinion of him?

JT: If you remember, before being in Formula One, he did some incredible races in the wet in GP2 so he has the skill, he has the talent and he has as well the luck which is something you need sometimes, but he did a fantastic job. The only race in which he did not score points this year was the one before because of the rain and this year he got full scores which is great and we can only respect the way he has been driving and what he has been doing this year.

Q. Why don't you protest if you don't like the stewards' apology?

JT: Because I don't think it will give any… it would not solve the problem. The race is over, the race is over. We want to understand better what has happened, the way it has happened but I think to open a new controversy would not be good for the sport. I read already that sometimes in the interest of the sport we feel it's better to leave it like that.

Q. Can you just clarify when you first knew about the stewards information and when did you then check your e-mail?

SD: On the radio, with Charlie (Whiting), that's the first time that we hear that. Lap number two. Then we discussed it because he was referring to a note and I said, 'Which kind of note?' and then after a while, Luca (Colajanni) came to see us on the pit (wall) with a note and then we sent someone to race control to have the evidence of this note which we hadn't seen. Then, after the race, I've been there to discuss about it, and I'm pretty sure next race we will be sent everything.

Q. On the grid, quite a few of the teams had Charlie come up to them and they had to take off their tyre blankets to see what tyres they had on. Did neither of your drivers have that happen with Charlie?

SD: Honestly, I didn't see Charlie on the grid, but normally what they do to check the code, they open the tyre blanket just laterally without showing what is the compound, just to check which is the code we are putting on. It's just the control of the marshals to make that check, that's all.

Q. Are you guys aware of the irony that you've said for the last two months that if you break the rules you must be punished. You guys are now trying to say something different. Do you not feel the irony?

JT: I don't want to open (a discussion) on this subject because you feel that by missing a lot of information or maybe you want to miss information about that so if you feel appropriate to make a comparison, we simply said that we did not get the information, that's all.

Stefano showed to you when he got the information on his e-mail, when he was already on the pit wall. What else do you want? And I said we were not going to complain, that we do accept the way it is, even if we feel that the procedure should be better.

Source - http://www.autosport.com