Montezemolo: “This World Cup still depends on us”

It was a bad blow but it's certainly not a KO. Seeing his lead over his closest pursuer reduced to a minimum without even having been able to play his cards - his race didn't even last four hundred meters - made Fernando Alonso's trip to Japan bitter but it certainly didn't undermine his desire to fight for a title that is still fully within his reach. The same can be said for Ferrari, which has not the slightest intention of giving up. This can be understood well from the words that President Luca di Montezemolo entrusted to www.ferrari.com in the aftermath of a race which nevertheless welcomed the return of Felipe Massa to the podium after a thirty-five race long absence, splendid second yesterday in Suzuka .

“It is in these moments that I want to see the Ferrari that I know” – said Montezemolo – “A team that is focused and keeps its nerve. I will soon speak on the phone with Fernando to give him further motivation to face these last five races with a knife between his teeth, as the rest of the team must do."

“Yesterday, Felipe's second place was very important, and his contribution becomes even more fundamental in this final part of the season” – he continued – “I expect an extraordinary job from our technicians, who have shown that they are capable of it: we are perfectly aware that this World Cup still depends on us.”

“We know we can count on the strongest driver around and only other people's errors prevented him, first at Spa and then at Suzuka, from keeping his rivals at a safe distance” – concluded the President, returning to the mind of the latest episodes what happened to the Spanish driver – “Let's not forget that, without those two collisions, today Fernando would have at least thirty points more, to be pessimistic in the calculation. In sport as in life, the wheel turns, we must never forget this: for us he hasn't done so in a positive sense lately but it doesn't take anything for him to change direction."

After all, his teammate demonstrated what result Alonso could have achieved yesterday afternoon. Massa was competitive throughout the weekend with the exception of one lap, that of the second timed attempt in Q2, in which, for reasons that are still unclear, he did not regain the level of grip he had until a few minutes earlier, when he had made the first attempt with already run-in tyres. In the race the Brazilian was very good, managing the Soft tires impeccably in the first phase when in any case he was faster than those immediately in front of him, and pushing the right amount at the moment of the first stop so as to be able to overtake both Button and Kobayashi at the exiting the pits. Then Felipe managed the margin he had accumulated with great calm, never being approached in a dangerous way either by the Japanese from Sauber or the Englishman from McLaren. It's true that Vettel was unreachable up front but, given the performance of the only F2012 in the race, what could a driver like Fernando have done? Without forgetting that, the day before, another Lady Luck oversight - in the form of yellow flags - had deprived the Spaniard of a second row seat well within his reach.

There is certainly a lot to work for the Ferrari engineers to respond to the step forward made by Red Bull in these last two races but it is also true that, like never before this year, each race seems to make a story in itself and the balance of power changes quite easily. Fernando was understandably quite frustrated yesterday afternoon when he left the circuit, but he too knows well that he can count on a team totally focused on the task of making the best possible car available to him and his teammate. And Ferrari knows it can count on the best possible driver.