Q & A with Stefano Domenicali

Stefano Domenicali: As I said to your Italian colleagues, we are not used on commenting on these decisions. The only thing I would say is that as soon as we had been summoned by the stewards, we gave our position to the stewards and that was it.

Then the stewards for sure listened to the Hamilton discussion on that, and that is the decision. On that we don't want to make any further comment.

Q. Could just give a general summary of Kimi Raikkonen today? We seemed to see a different Kimi during the race itself.

SD: Yes, you're right. It was really a shame that he was not able to finish the race, because he did a fantastic job. He was pushing as you can see from his laptimes. He was pushing very very hard and then he found it a little bit more difficult on the last set of hard tyres on which he was not able to push as hard as he wanted, and of course at the end, it was really difficult because he went off.

There are so many different elements that make going in the car on the one side or the other side. You saw when Lewis went off Kimi was able to be in the middle and then unfortunately went off again, but that's racing. But it was good to see that he is very motivated and he's pushing as hard as he can.

Q. Was the protest of which we've just seen the penalty, was the protest lodged by Ferrari?

SD: Absolutely not, absolutely not. We were summoned by the stewards at the end of the race.

Q. Has anything been said about the overtaking manoeuvre when Rosberg spun?

SD: No, no, no, at least not... when we were summoned we were asked to speak about the manoeuvre at the last chicane between Kimi and Lewis and events after that, so just speak about that.

Q. As the points standings are still what they are, will you still give equal opportunity to both of your drivers to drive for the championship?

SD: As we said, we will take the decision in the team interests. In my view, the situation that we have now is something that we need to think about with no rush because it's something that is part of our approach to the races, and if we feel that it's the right time we are going to do it, but let's take this Sunday, with so many events that we take back home what we have to do to prepare for Monza in the right way. This is the main target that we need to be focused on in the next few days.

Q. We all know what the decision of the stewards is now, but could you tell us what was your first impression, your first reaction when you saw this manoeuvre between Kimi and Lewis?

SD: Personally, I think it was a little bit extreme. It's normal that when you attack that you are racing but the problem is that the advantage that may take by doing a manoeuvre and this is the key point of it, so I think that that's the focus that has to be considered.

What is really the advantage that you are taking in such conditions that can be used in the second situation at the first corner. That, in my view, is the most important thing. But this is racing.

Q. What are your feelings regarding the performance of the Ferrari at Monza. We know you have very good straightline speed but the car hasn't been ideal over kerbs as we saw in Montreal.

SD: Well, as we said, Monza for us is not really the ideal track also because we are expecting not really high temperatures, so the only thing we can do is really to try to work very very hard, because we know that McLaren is very very strong above all in Monza, but not only there as we can see. Yesterday we were very impressed by their performance in qualifying.

To be honest, that shows how tense the championship is, how it will be close to the end. We know that they are very strong, and we cannot give up for a second. Today, there was another lesson. You really need to wait, we always said that but today was really clear: you have to wait not only to the end of the race but also afterwards. That shows that really the situation is very complicated. We will push and work hard because we respect and we know that our competitors are very very strong.

Q. The stewards' decision means that Felipe is the winner of this race and that he's only two points behind Lewis in the championship. Have you already talked to Felipe and what was his reaction?

SD: Of course I informed Felipe about this result and then had to come to this press meeting so we will have time to speak, but I was already late and I apologise for that.

Q. It makes your championship position much better now.

SD: That's for sure. I would like to say that when it's raining it's wet, but for sure it was different. For sure this is something that will open in a different way the championship but it doesn't mean that we will change our approach. As I said, it will be very tough, but at least we are leading one of the two championships and we are very close to the other.

Q. You mentioned just now that Kimi wasn't quite so good on the harder tyres, and also Felipe seemed to lose time on the harder tyres as well. How much of a concern is that?

SD: For sure it's something that we need to work on a lot, because we will have the same kind of tyres in Monza and this is something that can be a crucial element that will make the difference in the performance of the car in Monza, it's something that we need to work very hard on.