Ferrari: A small party to celebrate the win with an old friend

There was a short pause in the working day to celebrate a win that was as hard fought as it was wanted, and to do so with an old friend. The setting was the Logistics pavilion, the players were all the men and women of the Scuderia Ferrari, along with their boss Stefano Domenicali and President Luca di Montezemolo, while the surprise guest was Gerhard Berger, who happening to be in Maranello, wanted to great so many old friends and team colleagues. There was a great atmosphere, thanks to the satisfaction of taking such an exciting and yet unexpected win, mixed with the will to get on with the job as quickly as possible of improving a car that is not yet matching the expectations of those who work at Maranello, nor of the millions of Prancing Horse fans.

In a brief greeting, President Montezemolo asked for four rounds of applause: for Fernando Alonso to thank him for his amazing performance last Sunday, for Felipe Massa to stress the fact the team has all its faith in him at this difficult time, for the engineers and designers for the work, “they will know how to do to make the F2012 quicker” and for Stefano Domencali, “the boss of all of you.”

“This victory must not be an isolated one, but rather the starting point to a season in which we want to be the best,” added Montezemolo. “To succeed, we have to be the best in our daily work in every sector. We know there is a lot to do, but we also know it’s not impossible.” With six seasons and 96 Grands Prix starts for the Scuderia, Gerhard Berger was also keen to say a few words. “Every time I come to Maranello, my heart always beats in a special way. I drove for many teams in my Formula 1 career, but I never found people and a passion like I did here. It is really something unique.”

In the late afternoon, Felipe Massa arrived in Maranello. The Brazilian will spend two days here analysing in minute detail, along with the team, everything that happened in the back-to-back races in Australia and Malaysia. The aim is to understand what were the reasons behind him being unable to have a performance level that was up to the job and to the potential of the car, apart from a few moments, for example in qualifying in Sepang.

As Montezemolo underlined this afternoon, Felipe can count on everyone having faith in him and the knowledge that nothing will be left to chance in trying to put him in a position where he can show his undoubted worth.