Q+A with Stefano Domenicali
It is not an easy job to fill the shoes of Jean Todt as Team Principal of the Scuderia Ferrari, but Stefano Domenicali has taken on the challenge. Domenicali looks back at his first 100 days of being Team Principal.
"Well, I'd say its more current than history! A hundred days are hardly enough to change a life don't you think? Of course I feel the responsibility and the honour of taking on such an important role but I am the same person I always was and intend to stay that way."
You have to walk in very big boots. How do you cope with this situation? And has the transition from the old to the new regime gone smoothly?"Once again, I think we have to be careful what words we use. There is no old or new regime, a phrase which smacks of revolution, a situation which is far from what is happening in Maranello. President Montezemolo and Todt have entrusted me with a task as part of a gradual process of renewal, which has been going on for some time now and is based on the principal of dynamic stability and internal growth. The team's philosophy is the same as the one that has been its trademark for so many years, even though every person is an individual, different to the others, capable of working and existing as an individual."
You "grew up" within Ferrari having had positions in many departments. Does that in-depth knowledge make it easier to cope with your new position?"I think the path I took within the company has allowed me to acquire a very broad understanding of all the problems that can arise in the business of running a Formula 1 team. On top of that, I have been lucky enough to have extraordinary people like Montezemolo and Todt running the company and they have taught me a lot."
The first two races gave the impression that the season started too sudden for all teams - Ferrari included. What makes it so difficult to be prepared on the spot - after a long and intense test winter?"As far as we are concerned, Melbourne saw us experience serious reliability problems but not because we arrived unprepared. It was rather the case that this year, everyone with the exception of one team, had to deal with a new parameter, the MES central control unit, which still has to reveal all its secrets, especially in terms of the way it's operation affects the overal functionality of the car."
Are you satisfied with the two races - the car and the performance of your drivers? Especially Felipe's 0 point yield."We cannot be satisfied with having only picked up eleven points from the thirty six on offer. However, this is the responsibility of the team as a whole, its manager, engineers, mechanics and, of course, the drivers: all of us have to improve our performance to reach the standard to which we aspire."
You have been testing in Bahrain in February - could that give you now an advantage - being able to use recent data?"I don't think it will be a real advantage come the end of the weekend, especially as the track conditions this weekend will be different to those of early February. The decision to go to Bahrain to test was based on the desire to be able to test the car at length in consistent weather conditions in higher temperatures than those normally encountered in Europe in winter."
The 2007 season was effectively a two-horse race between Ferrari and McLaren. Now there is BMW-Sauber on the horizon. Will we see a three-horse race this year? And where do you see Ferrari?"I think it is still a bit early to make a definitive predictions but, from what we saw in Australia and Malaysia, there are at least three teams that are very competitive and Ferrari is one of them."
I you could make a wish as Direttore della Gestione Sportiva - what would that be?"That's easy: repeat our title winning form of 2007!"
Source Ferrari
