F1: Ferrari Were In Defensive Mode, Domenicali Admits

Formula 1

F1: Ferrari Were In Defensive Mode, Domenicali Admits

Ferrari team boss pleased with results in Hungarian Grand Prix...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted July 30, 2012 Budapest (HUN)

Fernando Alonso (Left) of Spain and Ferrari talks with Ferrari Team Principal Stefano Domenicali. (Right) (Photo: Getty Images)

Fernando Alonso’s fifth place in Hungary might not have looked like much on paper, but Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali welcomed the result as a good case of damage limitation on a weekend when the team fell off the pace.

“I think Fernando did a great race,” said Domenicali. “We knew we were in a defensive mode, and to be in front of two cars, Button and Webber, that were faster than us in terms of pure performance, is very important.

“Of course these kinds of races on this kind of track, where you are sitting behind in not an easy position at the start, then you have backmarkers and you may have a certain situation that causes you to be in traffic... In any case today we maximized the points considering where we started.

“I think we came here knowing that it was a difficult Grand Prix for us, not easy. Going home having increased the number of points on the second driver in the drivers’ championship is very good. I think Fernando can go on holiday relaxed and disconnecting. He deserves it, because he did a fantastic first part of the season.”

Once again Domenicali stressed that the team has a lot of work to do in order to stay in the hunt in the coming months.

“It’s very difficult because we’ve seen that at the moment there are cars that are faster than us. We need to keep and improve the level of performance. We need to be cool on that, because last weekend [Germany] we were the quickest in all conditions, this time we weren’t, so there is the right balance to find.

“But we know we have to keep finding a step of development, otherwise the others will improve and it will be more difficult to be always in defensive mode. The key of the season is to keep pushing as we did in the first half of the season, and it is important when we find that we have a classification like today, where considering the performance we are gaining points, that is something really incredible.
“McLaren did a great job, I’m happy for them, but I’m more happy for us that are in front.”

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.