Q & A with Stefano Domenicali

Stefano Domenicali: Honestly, we are very happy in a way, because of course want to show the reaction of Ferrari. After a very different weekend in Australia, that was not really unfortunately our standard or it was something that was difficult to digest, first of all, from us.

So I'm very happy because we show that the team can do a great job. I think the best thing that I have seen is that we kept cool and calm as we are normally, without softening, in a negative way, the pressure that is normal when you have such a difficult start. But that's the main reason why I'm happy, to be honest.

Q. Is there a sense of relief after the problems in Australia, to come back with victory here?

SD: No, I think the sense of relief is connected to the fact that we really showed what is our potential. We were strong all weekend, very good pace on both tyre specs and that is, for us, the main thing, that is positive.

We knew that our car was good, so that's the reason why we are happy, partially, in a way, because of course what we want is to have let's say 18 points, because that's the way it has to be, that's the way we have to think and looking at the situation, it's like a bitter feeling because of course these are very important points. Nothing is lost because it's a very very long championship but points are always points.

Q. What happened to Felipe?

SD: He went on the kerb and now we need to understand if he lost the car or something has happened at that specific moment but it's not clear yet.

Q. After the engine failures in Australia, obviously you made some precautions here, but have you been 100 percent sure or was there still some nervous feeling about it?

SD: We are always sure after the chequered flag, and not enough because the chequered flag has to last two times for the engine and four times for the gearbox so for sure, what I can say is that in another view, the reliability is the main issue that we need to be very strong on.

Really, I'm not joking, it's really a different championship this year, with the four race gearbox, you never relax and this is the reason why we need to be focused on the way we are working in trying to improve every time the quality of everything, the method of working and this is really the most important thing where we will work very hard in the next days.

Q. Do the engines remain a big concern because of the problems that Force India and Toro Rosso had this weekend?

SD: It is a concern in a positive way. Of course we want to be sure 100 percent to understand what has happened and because our customers have to be satisfied what we are doing and of course we are not happy at all if we have something broken from our side, so we need to understand properly, we need to react and this is the reason why I say that is for sure our main target for the next days.

Q. The drivers swapped the lead in the pitstop. The same thing happened last year in France last year, I think and somewhere else as well. How difficult is it going to be to manage them this year to keep them both happy, one gets pole, but the other one then gets the lead at the stops?

SD: No, it's not very difficult, it's part of the work of the team. It's a fact that we have two very good drivers, they know the rules, they respect the rules and they can fight on the track, very free, without doing any damage, both for them and for the team.

On that respect, of course we discuss, also this morning, the way to handle the start because it was creating a moment and the way we did this was to check the starts in previous years, more than last year, and I think we did a good on that, and also on the strategy, our choice was really good. We didn't want to stress the tyres with a very heavy fuel load on the car and I think on that the team worked very well.

Q. Felipe did seem to be leaning on Kimi a bit going down to the first corner.

SD: No. When you're racing, you try to have a line, we discuss how to cope with that. Honestly, it was good.

Q. You said in Italian the McLarens were maybe not at their real level here...

SD: I think that for sure it's exactly the same feeling as we said after Australia, when everyone said McLaren are in another world and we said OK, they did a great race no doubt but here we are and we will see that they have not really had a great weekend, but this doesn't say that they are like that.

For sure they behaved differently, they didn't have a great weekend in terms of performance but for sure they will be very strong in Bahrain, and what I can say is that for sure we have seen that also BMW had a great weekend and they are there. We need to respect them and we will for sure... they will be in the middle of the field for sure in order to take points from us, from McLaren, so we need to have a lot of respect for them.

Q. Will it make the championship harder, because BMW eventually can take points away from your or from McLaren?

SD: Absolutely, I think as we said at the beginning of the season, the championship this year is very very long and the fact that we will have one more competitor that shows that they are good, for sure is an added element to take into consideration. Today, honestly, we were very strong, we took it very easy in the last part of the race because we wanted to save the car and bring it home because for sure for us it was so important to take the chequered flag.

Q. What about Bahrain?

SD: For sure the conditions are very different, we tested in February, now it's April, the temperatures are different but for sure we did a good test there and let's hope that it will bring some positive result being there in February.