Straight to work in Maranello ahead of Singapore

There is barely time to draw breath in this very busy season of Formula 1, the longest in the history of the sport. Having returned to Maranello late last night, the team is already at work preparing to the minutest detail for the next round, scheduled for Sunday 23 September on the Singapore street circuit. This morning Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo had a long meeting with Team Principal Stefano Domenicali both to take stock of the immediate future – the final rush in the championship – and to discuss about the mid-term, examining the Scuderia’s plans for development and moving forward on all fronts.

For Scuderia Ferrari the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix was like a rollercoaster ride. It was a relentless flow of emotions, difficulties, disappointments, hopes and, in the end, satisfaction about a team result that was the best of the day. There was also satisfaction about a situation in the two championships that on one side – the drivers – has returned more or less to how it was ahead of the summer break (but with two more grands prix completed) and on the other – the constructors – has been completely opened up again thanks above all to Red Bull’s failure to score and the reliability problems that affected other title contenders.

It was in fact the duel with one of the Red Bulls, that of Sebastian Vettel, that led to one of the most crucial moments of Fernando’s race yesterday afternoon. Domenicali told ferrari.com: “It was a hard battle and I believe the Stewards’ decision was right, above all given the clarification that was given out by the FIA after the last Bahrain Grand Prix. I’m also sure that Sebastian didn’t have any intention of jeopardising Fernando’s race: the German is a driver who is firm but fair.”

The chief of the Maranello team continued: “This will be a very intense week because there will also be action on track at Magny-Cours, where there is a young drivers’ test going on. For us there will be Jules Bianchi and Davide Rigon, who will take turns at the wheel of the F2012. One of the priorities of the test will be to fine-tune the correlation between the simulator and the track, a crucial aspect of modern-day Formula 1.”

While the sound of the V8s returns to France for the first time in more than four years, the work will continue unabated in the simulator and on the test benches at Maranello. One man who will be getting used to the surroundings inside the Sporting Department tomorrow will be Sergio Perez, who will be making a visit to Maranello in accordance with an appointment that has been planned for months as part of his programme of work as a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy. Then on Thursday and Friday it will be Felipe Massa’s turn to proceed with the ‘virtual’ development work on the F2012.