Montezemolo: I will be asking for an in-depth analysis

The night following a great disappointment is always hard to deal with. One struggles to get to sleep, thinking about what might have been, what was within one’s grasp. Only a few steps – or three points, depending on how you want to measure the distance, separated Fernando Alonso from a world title, which this year like never before, he so richly deserved. Despite everything, the word most often heard on the lips of the Ferrari men is pride. Fernando used it yesterday on the podium, Stefano Domenicali employed it when addressing the team immediately after the race and Luca di Montezemolo used in a statement he put out immediately last night. It was spoken many times by the Ferrari people last night, some of them still with watery eyes: it’s the pride in having believed right to the end, in having given their utmost every day of this very long and exhausting season. Of course there is also the awareness that the car was not the fastest in the pack, especially at the start of the season – one only needs to look at the points scored in the first four races and then those picked up in the last five – and the regret regarding the mere 661 metres that Fernando managed in the races at Spa and Suzuka.

Pride and regret were themes brought up by Luca di Montezemolo again in an interview that will go out this evening on Italian television station, RAI Uno’s news programme and here are some of its highlights.

“Certainly not winning the title is the cause for great sorrow and great regret, because we always want to win and we came close,” said the President. “ I am proud of the work done by the team in having produced the most reliable car, for never having got the strategy wrong and for making no mistakes at the pit stops. Right to the end, the team did its duty. Even if we are the team that scored the most points in the last five races, even if I was pleased to see our two drivers on the podium yesterday, we lacked a car quick enough to get us to the front of the grid and that was the main problem we had all season.”

Montezemolo also spoke about how Fernando will react to this tough blow and on the Spaniard’s assessment of the competitiveness of the car. “He will react like the whole team: the team is working to achieve what I have asked of them, which is to have a car that is quick out of the box and immediately competitive. Fernando will react in his way, pushing even harder, aware that he will be unbeatable in a competitive car. As for the car, Fernando is partly right, on condition that, in 2013, we maintain this amazing reliability that has allowed us to come second in the Drivers’ and Constructors’championships. However, he’s right that we need a quicker car.”

As to the reasons why we did not always have a quick car, Montezemolo was very clear: “What happened this year stems what happened the previous year. On this topic, I will be asking for an in-depth analysis and an improvement in the organization and work methods, because next year, we want to have a winning car right from the first race, which has not been the case these last two years.”

Montezemolo ended by speaking about the incomparable Ferrari fans: “ I thank them all for their great support. We were hoping to win for them too, but we can be proud of having been, once again this year, contenders right down to the last lap of the last race and all of us here in Maranello are working flat out to win next year. We will give it our all.”