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RE: Domenicali: "Tenemos que darles un coche mejor a Fernando y Felipe" - Melif1 - 11-04-2011
Stefano Domenicali: “You have to take some risks…”
Stefano Domenicali insists that the DRS failure on Fernando Alonso’s car cost a potential podium in the Malaysian GP.
Alonso was without the use of the moveable wing from an early stage of the race, which made it harder for him to pass Lewis Hamilton when he got caught behind the McLaren.
“We could have overtaken Lewis on the straight, because there’s a clear difference in terms of pace,” said the Ferrari boss. “So we had the chance for Fernando to really go there and attack Jenson.”
Domenicali says that Alonso was in effect forced to take more risks, although he wouldn’t admit that the Spaniard made a mistake when he damaged his front wing.
“When you are trying to overtake, because you see there is a difference of performance, you cannot say that. I like the way that he’s driving, it’s fantastic. The other consideration we have this year is that if you go off line, it’s a big problem, If you see all the track, it’s all dirty, with all the marbles outside.
“The problem is you try to keep the line, and suddenly if you just go off the line you basically put the marbles on the tyres, and you lose performance. I think it’s a tricky situation this year if you don’t have the chance to overtake in a clear situation, you have to take – how can I say – some risks, because it’s not easy. That’s how it is. It’s a shame because without the problem on the rear wing with him, we could have really attacked.”
Ferrari was encouraged by the pace of the cars in the race, but the team admits it needs to find more downforce and more speed in qualifying.
“We know that for sure our race pace is much better than qualifying. I think that the most important element to understand is how is the usage of the tyres during the race, because we have seen it very clearly today how there are differences between drivers that are driving the same car. So this has an important effect.
“But for sure one element where we have to have a big step is really to create better downforce on our car, that’s the key on our performance. Because if we do that, we can start closer to the front on the grid. We have seen that today both our cars were behind Mark who didn’t have such a fantastic start, so we lose performance there, then you are in the traffic at the first corner, and it’s always a race that you have to climb instead of going down.
“So it’s clear the main thing where we have to focus is to understand how to work better in qualifying because the gap we’ve seen yesterday is too big. If you take the comparison – and as I’ve said before you have to take out Vettel at this moment – with Webber and McLaren today, I think really we were fighting for a podium position in a crystal clear way. So a lot of things to understand. A lot depends really first of all on the downforce of the car, and secondly understanding on how to use the best of the tyres, because that’s another element that’s very important.”
Domenicali says that the new style of multiple stop racing is confusing even for the teams, and the number of stops increases the chance of a mistake.
“For sure it’s not easy for the public viewer to understand what’s going on, because it’s also difficult for the teams to understand. But that’s the way it is. It s part of the game of this year, we need to consider that, and we don’t have to take an excuse from this point. For sure what I can say is that the number of pit stops more and the chances of having a problem at a pit stop puts a lot of pressure on the team to be perfect.
“And unfortunately we had a problem with the pitstop of Felipe, on the tyre, and it cost a lot of positions. It’s a lot of pressure on the guys, and you need to be perfect every time. You’ve seen when you lose so many seconds then you full behind and then the race is difficult. Then you have to push and then you use the tyres, so it’s all connected. That for sure is a new situation for this year.”