Q & A with Stefano Domenicali

The team posted a double retirement in the end with Massa suffering a broken upright and Raikkonen parking with a suspected differential problem following a spin and contact with the wall.

Team prinicipal Stefano Domenicali shared his thoughts on a frustrating Australian Grand Prix weekend.

Q. You said before the season started that reliability could be the important factor this season. What is your reaction after today?

Stefano Domenicali: I was right! First of all, with regard to Felipe we had an upright that was broken on the left hand side. So, it is a mechanical failure. We do not yet understand what has happened.

With regard to Kimi, because we had a doubt on the differential, just a doubt, and because the race was already finished we told him to bring the car in as there was no need to queue there for nothing.

For sure, reliability was one big issue, but I have to be fair and honest - today, looking at how the race has evolved, the reliability has not affected our result today because the race was already in a way that was basically different. If Kimi had been racing for points we would not have stopped him. And on Felipe's side, his problem was already in a stint of the race where it was virtually finished.

So I would say, reliability did not affect the result of today's race because the results were decided by a lack of performance, which we've not had anywhere at any time, and in a way for a situation that is different for sure. With Felipe, retrospectively, we were wrong with the strategy - it was maybe too aggressive and that was pretty clear. With Kimi it was okay in terms of strategy. So we have to put all the things in the proper list of priority. What we have seen today, we saw Brawn is really very, very fast, strong and consistent.

In normal circumstances, without any safety car, they would fly away. So if we have to target, that is our target. There is a lot of work to do, and this is natural, it is normal, because on this side the fact that you are able to have more time to spend on a new project gives you results. Also, we saw what is also the situation for the other competitors - but they are very, very close. For sure they were better than us, so just to understand maybe better the situation next weekend where we will be at a different track, at a track like Malaysia with a different grip situation.

One element of important understanding is the tyres. The tyre usage is also connected to the KERS, so there is a lot of things we need to understand in these days about that.

Q. Around the second stops you seemed to have recovered as you were up there with Kubica. So what went wrong after that?

SD: I think that he had better pace. Looking at what happened at the end of the race with Kimi, he wouldn't be there. For sure they had better pace and that is the thing, in that section of that race.

Q. So better pace on the harder tyre?

SD: Yes, if you compare the situation of Kubica, he was on soft/hard - so he was basically in the same situation. For sure they didn't destroy the tyres as we destroyed, so that is an element of consideration that we need to consider.

Q. Is this tyre usage related to KERS and weight distribution?

SD: That is for sure a point that we need to analyse and consider, no doubt.

Q. Was it only the rear tyres?

SD: Yes, mainly the rear tyres.

Q. Is the diffuser issue now key to the world championship fight this year?

SD: Well, I think that it is not fair to speak today about that. We need to concentrate about only the race today, that was pretty clear.

Q. Will you use KERS in Malaysia?

SD: Yes.

Q. Was there anything broken on Kimi's car after his touch with Barrichello, and did that play a role in his spin?

SD: Not really, as far as we know.