Domenicali: We cannot claim to be happy

Yesterday, twenty four hours after the win in Hockenheim, there was certainly no sense of euphoria in the Scuderia Ferrari offices and today, everyone is concentrating totally on the forthcoming race on 29th July at the Hungaroring, on the outskirts of Budapest.

“It’s nice to see our fans are happy with that last result, but no one at Maranello is under any sort of illusion,” said Stefano Domenicali to ferrari.com. “The fact we are leading the Drivers’ championship with Fernando does not lull us into thinking that everything is fine and we’re cruising along with the wind in our sails; quite the contrary in fact. Red Bull has always been very strong in Budapest these past few years and McLaren showed in Germany that it was back in front running form, after a slight dip at its home race. Then there is also Mercedes, as well as Lotus and other teams, such as Williams and Sauber, who have shown they can, in some circumstances, also be in the fight for the podium. Clearly, the opposition is as numerous as it’s strong.”

This afternoon, President Montezemolo chose to have an update on the situation with Domenicali and the two drivers, Alonso and Massa, just back from the Lower Modena area which was hit by an earthquake back in May. “As usual, Montezemolo was very clear: feet on the ground and work, work, work,” continued Domenicali. “After Budapest, we come up to two very tough races in the shape of Spa and Monza, where we must show that we are competitive on fast tracks too. The performance of the F2012 has improved since the start of the season but until we have the quickest car on track, we cannot claim to be happy. There is still a long road ahead of us, with plenty of obstacles along the way. The first and currently the most dangerous one is to catch this sense of euphoria that comes from the outside. But I’m calm about this because I am immune to these things!”