Domenicali: Ferrari aim to win both championships

2011 F1 season

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Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari, Wrooom, 2011

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali says his team’s objective is to win both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships in 2011.

Speaking at the team’s annual media event “Wrooom” he said:

In 2010 we just missed out on the drivers title with Fernando Alonso and we came third in the constructors championship. The target for 2011 is as easy to say as it is hard to achieve – it requires taking one step forward in the drivers championship and two in the one for the teams.

These have to be our targets because we are Ferrari. To manage it we want to have a car that is super-competitive and reliable from the very start. We know that we will have to be perfect, including in how we react to all the events that can crop up in a race weekend – because when the opponents are so strong and numerous this is what you need if you aspire to win.
Stefano Domenicali

2011 Ferrari logo

Domenicali revealed the launch date for the new car which will be driven at Fiorano for filming before it is taken to Valencia for the first test of the year.

According to the team their new logo (pictured) will form the basis for the car’s livery.

Fernando Alonso will drive the car on the first two days of the test with Felipe Massa driving for the final day. Domenicali said:

The car that you will see at the Maranello launch will be very different from the one that makes its debut on March 13 in Bahrain. We will continue to develop the car up to the last available day, as we believe the other teams will.
Stefano Domenicali

He added that the recent changes to the team’s track personnel had been planned for some time and was not just a reaction to Alonso losing the drivers’ championship in the final race of last year:

For a while we were thinking of improving the team in certain areas so this decision was not taken on impulse after what happened in Abu Dhabi – if anything it was just brought forward.

Pat [Fry] will have the responsibility of running all the track activities both technical and relating to the drivers. To do that in the most effective way, together with the race engineers, he will also have the support of the tools that will be available and improved by a new technical body that we have created: the Operations Research department, which will be headed by new arrival Neil Martin.

This department will also have the job of improving the integration between simulator, wind tunnel and technical office. There will be no other changes.

Everyone reckons that it was all down to Abu Dhabi and the mistake made there, but the truth is that the championship was lost in the early part of the season, when we failed to pick up the points that were within our grasp.

At the final race we missed a decisive penalty shot, but as is the case in football, the best thing to do is to take another one immediately, to consign the mistake to history, even if it does not wipe out all the good work we did earlier.

I clearly remember that, at the start of the summer, no one would have bet a single Euro on our chances of challenging to the end, but then we all know how it turned out.

Now, throughout the team, there is a great will to do well and to put behind us this bad end to a season which was nevertheless a positive one, especially the second half, when we put on a great show of concentration and determination in what was definitely not an easy situation.
Stefano Domenicali

Read more: Ferrari to launch 2011 F1 car on January 28th

Image © Ferrari spa

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Keith Collantine
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13 comments on “Domenicali: Ferrari aim to win both championships”

  1. So Ferrari would like to win both championships this year – who would have thought it. I thought they were there for the fun of it.

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  2. I hope they do, despite I didn’t like the way they handled 2010 but I hope they learn that it’s more important to be organize.Alonso will be fully fired up with the whole team under him the question remains that whether Massa with his crew fight back?

  3. I suppose this means McLaren will be happy with whatever position they end up in and Lotus (or whatever they’re called) don’t really care for improvement.

    1. I suppose McLaren will be happy to see, that Alonso learnt a lot from their team and was satisfied with procedures to such a level he brings some of them into Ferrari now!

  4. This time they don’t have to be just words. Every year of course people say the same on wanting to win, but you can judge the situation only by looking at the other rivals and not just yourself, so we’ll have to wait.

  5. it requires taking one step forward in the drivers championship

    … if you’re Fernando Alonso.

    And if you’re Felipe Massa…?

  6. Of course they are – at least they didn’t do an HRT style thing – we expect to be behind RBR next year!!

    (HRT said – we are going to be behind Virgin and Team Lotus)

  7. No problem. Since none of the other teams have the same goal I think it’ll be a cake walk for them.

  8. I wonder if that logo means that the cars will have even more white on them. I wouldn’t mind a bigger Ferrari shield, but who are they think they are kidding with the half package of Marlboro – I guess they will also unveil the car with a mirror next to it for extra effect? I do hope to see some nice pin-striping or something on their car, would be good to have a little of that.

  9. Shocking!

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