F1: Ferrari Not Giving Up Yet

Formula 1

F1: Ferrari Not Giving Up Yet - Domenicali

Ferrari struggled this weekend in the Belgian Grand Prix...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted August 29, 2010 Francorchamps (BEL)

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal, Ferrari says his team is still in the championship hunt. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Stefano Domenicali admits that the Belgian GP weekend turned into a major disappointment for Ferrari, despite the car showing promise on Friday.

LINK > RACE RESULTS: BELGIAN GRAND PRIX – SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
LINK > POINTS STANDINGS: BELGIAN GRAND PRIX – SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS

Felipe Massa salvaged fourth place for the team after Fernando Alonso crashed out while running seventh after a fraught race.

Domenicali insists that the team is still very much in the title hunt, and will keep fighting.

“For sure it’s not really a positive weekend for us, for many reasons,” he said. “From the points’ point of view, for sure we lost ground, no doubt about it. It is more difficult, but it’s not impossible – I remember in 2007 we were 17 points behind with two races to go.

“For sure it’s more difficult, but we want to keep pushing. Today I would say the top five drivers, if I don’t recall wrongly, we were one of the three who did not score a point. Maybe in the next couple of races something will happen the other way round. So we just need to be there, and do not give up, let’s say from the points point of view.

“What we need to see is really that we didn’t go out from this weekend with the performance that we were expecting. And we need to understand why. We need to be very cautious, because two races ago one of our competitors, which was McLaren, seemed to be very suffering I would say.

“And now it seemed today that they were very strong. Race by race the scenario is changing so quickly that it’s difficult to predict something. It’s important to try to be there, because as I said, with these conditions, everything can happen.”

The biggest frustration for the team was that Alonso’s pace on Friday – when he was fastest in both sessions – disappeared as the weekend progressed.

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“It’s true, that’s why we need to understand exactly what has happened, in terms of the direction of the set-up that we were taking, or if the developments we brought here, in the conditions that we had, were right or wrong. Also because on Friday we were not really able to do the comparisons that we were supposed to do, considering the weather conditions.”

Meanwhile Domenicali declined to say much about the upcoming World Motor Sport Council hearing into the German GP team orders saga.

“Our line is not to really speak about it up to the moment we will be in front of the World Council. What I can say is I am sure the World Council will understand our line and our point on that.”

LINK > RACE RESULTS: BELGIAN GRAND PRIX – SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
LINK > POINTS STANDINGS: BELGIAN GRAND PRIX – SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and hosts a race preview show on Sirius XM. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter

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