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| Scuderia Ferrari comes away from the Indian Grand Prix with twenty six points, thanks to a second place for Fernando Alonso and a sixth for Felipe Massa. It was Fernando’s tenth visit to the podium this season and the el |
| venth for the team. |
Stefano Domenicali: “What a race that was from Fernando, simply amazing!
Yesterday, he’d said he would tackle this race like a sixty lap qualifying session
and he was true to his word: on the attack from start to finish, the only one from the top
ten on the grid to make up places by the end. This second place is all down to his talent,
to his aggressive approach and the fact he never wants to give up, backed up by a team
that is doing the maximum to give him a car that is worthy of him. Sure, we leave India
with a bigger gap to the leader of the Drivers’ championship than when we got here,
but this race should not leave those who are ahead in a calm and relaxed mood. Fernando
and Ferrari will not slacken their efforts by a centimetre, right to the end of this long
season. Felipe drove a good race, attacking in the first stint, but then on the defensive
in the second, partly due to some limitations that occurred in the management of the fuel.
In any case, his sixth place is very valuable in light of the Constructors’
classification, in which we have managed to increase our lead over the third placed team,
even if the leaders have pulled even further away. There are three more finals to go, up
against very strong opponents, but they are not unbeatable. I recall that, in 1982, the
Italian football team was definitely not the strongest but went on to win that
year’s World Cup. We believe in our chances and I’m sure that so do all our
fans!”
Fernando Alonso: “We can fight the Red Bulls, but at the moment, we still
don’t have a car capable of winning. Once again this year we have seen that, in the
race, the situation is much better than in qualifying. A great start, a great first lap, a
good top speed and the right tyre management produced, along with me driving at 120% for
each of the sixty race laps, this second place. We did what we could, as at every race:
if, come the end of the championship we will have won, then no one will be able to say it
was down to mistakes from the others, but because we always did the maximum. We will
already have some updates in Abu Dhabi: let’s hope we can make a step forward
because it will be important to start making up the points gap there already. There are 75
points up for grabs which is a lot. I am still optimistic even if we are all aware that we
have to improve our performance, especially on Saturday. I don’t know if this was my
best performance of the season, as it’s always difficult to make that sort of call.
I am particularly keen on the one in Valencia or at Monza, but this one is definitely up
there: I pushed from start to finish, maybe taking some more risks in overtaking compared
to previous races. Today, after the start, I tried to immediately attack the McLarens
getting into their slipstream. They were fighting among themselves and maybe they forgot
about me and I managed to get past at least one of them. Then I also managed to overtake
Button just a few laps later, but the time lost in those few laps allowed the two Red
Bulls to pull out a bit of a gap. In the second stint, I made the most of Webber’s
problems with the KERS to overtake him: yet again we have seen that anything can happen
and that the races are always long and difficult...”
Felipe Massa: “It was a very tough fight, from start to finish. After around 20
laps, I was told from the pitwall that I had to try and save fuel, so I ended up doing
over half the race without being able to go flat out and I can assure you, it was
definitely not easy, because Kimi was always very close to me. It wasn’t the result
I wanted, but all the same, these are important points for the Constructors’
championship. The time lost in FP2 cost me dear, mainly because we were unable to optimise
our package. The duel with Kimi after the pit stop? I managed to come out of pit lane in
front, but then I let him through at Turn 3 because he was still very close and I wanted
to have the DRS down the straight. I think he realised that, but by then it was too late
and I had the advantage and managed to get by. Now we go to Abu Dhabi, which is something
of a second home race for Ferrari, as we have the beautiful theme park there. Let’s
hope we have some more updates on the car and can secure a better result than this sixth
place.”
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