F1: Ferrari Delight After Overcoming Monza Problems

Formula 1

F1: Ferrari Delight After Overcoming Monza Problems

Ferrari driver fought to place third in Italian Grand Prix...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted September 10, 2012 Balen (BEL)

Fernando Alonso of Spain and Ferrari celebrates on the podium after finishing third during the Italian Formula One Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. (Photo: Getty Images)

Ferrari’s relief at Fernando Alonso’s third place in Monza was not a surprise given the trying circumstances of the weekend.

After several failures on Alonso’s car on Friday and Saturday the team lost its telemetry early in the race, which made managing the progress of the cars extremely difficult.

“We had a problem of a power supply loss of both the main system and the back-up system,” said team boss Stefano Domenicali. “It never happened before. So we were totally black with no telemetry, no information. The only thing that was working was the radio communication with the drivers. That happened in the crucial part of the race when there were the pit stops.

“It was good that we were able to keep calm between everyone, and we were just watching as in the old days, finding the right television that was connected somewhere and try to manage the stop watch and try to manage the gap with the radio communication with the drivers.

“The last back-up we have activated during that time was a telephone with Maranello, because they were able to see our data. It was a good management, not easy from the emotional point of view, but it was good that at the end of the day it didn’t cost anything on the performance of the team.”

Later damage caused to both the bodywork and suspension of Alonso’s car after his trip across the gravel behind Sebastian Vettel gave the team an extra headache.

“We had a problem on the car. It has very big damage on the left rear, and we also had something broken from the mechanical point of view, so we had to try to manage that situation, telling him above all not to go on the kerbs, because he could have had the problem bigger.”

Regarding the drive through penalty given to Vettel, Domenicali said: “After what happened in Bahrain there was a clarification from race control that the driver in front has to leave space if there is a part of the car that is approaching that is beside the car. Technically speaking there’s nothing to say, it was exactly what’s written in the regulation.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.