Domenicali: “Qualifying is really crucial this year”

Wallpapers of the Spanish GP
The Director of Sports Management, Stefano Domenicali, after the double achieved on Sunday in the Spanish Grand Prix, declared that he considers the positions on the starting grid absolutely crucial for winning this year's World Championship.

“The most important aspect that emerged is that qualifying is really crucial – explained Domenicali. “Whoever starts in pole position has a strong advantage, that of making the pace. Qualifying will be, from my point of view, the phase in which we will have to concentrate most, because if you look at the pace we had on Friday, the margin seems to be significant, while on Saturday it was less so, so we really need to focus on our work, in relation to the entire race weekend.”

When asked how much of an advantage he thought the team had before the race weekend, compared to the other teams, Domenicali remained cautious. “Normally we try to simulate the performance we achieved but I would say we estimated it to be around a tenth. I don't know if it's bigger now. I don't think it's enough though. We saw that the others also gave their best.

“It was a very particular race, characterized by the entry of two safety cars, which interrupted the pace, at the moment in which we were accumulating the advantage, but we needed to maintain the race pace and we certainly shouldn't lose control of the car. 'reliability', given that the others were only 3 seconds away from us. From now on the pace will be very tight given that we are leading both Championships but it will be a very long season, believe me.”

Domenicali is very aware that many unpredictable factors can really make a difference. “Look at Heidfeld – she said. “Heidfeld was unlucky from a certain point of view, with the safety car coming out, because he was forced to stop when he had no more fuel, so he had to take the penalty. This could also happen to us in a race, and in that case what should we do? He falls behind and misses some very important points. This is why we really think these results are very important. I don't know what the English equivalent is but it's like bringing supplies home and then using them when needed."

But does Domenicali think that the regulation should be revised, due to the fact that its applications are so arbitrary? “I don't know if it will be possible for it to be changed before the end of the season. It is certainly under discussion at the next meeting of the Sporting Working Group, it is on the agenda. It is certainly something we need to work on, because if we find ourselves faced with a situation of that type, which can happen to anyone, we are really very unlucky, so we need to analyze the situation calmly and think about what is the best. option for everyone, before changing something. The worst thing you can do in Formula 1 now is to make a change and then realize immediately afterwards that we've made a change for the worse. Before doing something, it is better to think ten times.”

The question then emerged regarding Ferrari's main rivals, in particular McLaren, but also Renault, so how realistic was the Scuderia's performance and that of McLaren on lap 66? “The safety car changed the configuration of the race. For sure, Lewis was quite fast at the end and we were trying to observe him to use the margin safely. We were starting to follow his lap times, but he was fast, that's for sure.

“We also saw Fernando do an incredible lap yesterday because he was quite low on fuel, and he stopped during the fifteenth lap. Renault have certainly made some progress. They had problems with the reliability of one car, while the other had contact with another car, so it's difficult to say for sure, but they certainly made some progress.

“Everyone has made progress. This was to be expected, to be honest, because they worked here last week with new components after the first part of the season. Now we will see what the new developments of our main rivals will be in Turkey and then we will go to Monte Carlo where I expect to see a difficult race weekend for everyone, as the cars are less stable, and the guardrails are very close so I think it will be It's an interesting weekend, but it's too early to think about it now. Now we just need to focus on Türkiye."

Ferrari