Domenicali: “It's no longer a time for celebrations. We must continue to work with our heads down"

Spring has finally arrived in Maranello! It is not only a meteorological observation dictated by the splendid sun that accompanied the traditional ceremony of placing a new Ferrari flag - one is added to every victory - on the entrance gate of the Scuderia Ferrari but, above all, the realization that this 2013 It's on track to be the best spring of the last five years.

Not since 2008 has the Scuderia achieved two successes and as many podium finishes in the first five races: then there were as many as four, two each for Raikkonen (Malaysia and Spain) and Massa (Bahrain and Turkey). The 117 points achieved in 2013 represent the best haul of the last five years but what most comforts the Ferrari fans - from President Montezemolo to all the fans - is the competitiveness demonstrated since the first race, considering that even in the Grands Prix where the results were lower than expected – Malaysia and Bahrain – there was the potential to fight for the very top positions.

However, none of this gives the Scuderia any illusions, as Team Principal Stefano Domenicali underlined to ferrari.com: "It's no longer a time for celebrations: it's right to have enjoyed yesterday's good moments, which give us energy, but if we want to fight for the he goal we set ourselves at the beginning of the year we must continue to work with our heads down."

“We are Latin and it is easy to let ourselves be influenced, positively or negatively, by victories and defeats but we must remain calm and concentrated” – he continued – “The most important thing about the weekend in Barcelona was seeing a cohesive, motivated and confident in its potential: the key to interpreting yesterday's result was precisely the belief in their own abilities that everyone showed from the start. I was then very pleased to see that our strategic simulations were entirely confirmed by the reality of the track: it is a factor that gives solidity to our future choices."

Domenicali is too old in the profession not to know that, just as one swallow does not make a summer, two successes do not make a world championship. Things in Formula 1 change so quickly that we can't relax for a second: "Between now and the end of June, three very different tracks await us, where the values ​​on the field could also change based on the developments that everyone will bring in." track” – he said – “We will have to make the right choices, without entering into what I define as performance anxiety, that is, the desire to overdo it, thus losing the right direction. We will have to seek the right compromise between experimenting with new solutions and tire management which, as we have seen, is decisive. Finally, we will need to push hard on development, keeping in mind that, in the coming months, several teams could decide to concentrate totally on the 2014 project: this year, more than ever, it will be a very important factor."