Q & A with Stefano Domenicali

Q. You closed in on Toyota for third place in the Constructors' Championship at the German Grand Prix. At what point do you stop developing this year's car and shift your focus entirely to next season?

Stefano Domenicali: It will be very soon. We have already started some work on the new project, and in the next couple of weeks we will basically shift off to the new project in order to make sure we do not lose any time. We know that next season will be crucial, and we want really definitely to start with a different pace compared to this year. So it is a matter of days rather than weeks.

Q. Can you tell us what happened with Kimi Raikkonen in the race?

SD: Unfortunately he had a problem because on lap 14 or 15, there was a stone or some debris that broke the neck of the radiator, and it was damaged and started to leak water. So we had to stop. It was damaged during the course of the race. It was not a reliability issue; it was just a racing thing. Unfortunately we had a big hole on the left hand side of the vehicle.

Q. How much was Felipe Massa's podium finish down to improvements with the car, and how much was it down to his consistency during the race?

SD: I think that it was both. But I have to say that this year we need to be very careful, because it is very difficult to understand the performance of the car in different conditions. Even within a team on different days. If you look at the performance up and down, we saw for example a fantastic lap time from the Renault here that was amazing, and for us in different conditions it varies.

The most critical element of the year is to understand what is happening with our car in different conditions with different tyres. But after a couple of races we see it happening with all the teams, so it is not clear yet. We need to be very careful because races are, I don't want to say decided, but at certain moments these things can really make a difference.

If you make a good start, if you are able to control the tyre at a certain moment to get certain positions, then the race is not finished but it is something that makes a difference.

I would say that in Germany we were very good with Felipe and Kimi, we had a good start and I must say KERS here was working even though I said before that in Abu Dhabi we would like to do something special with it. So we saw something interesting at the start and then it was good to conserve the tyres during the stint to use them when it was needed, and the team worked well.

So at least I am positive and happy with the result. But we need to keep our feet on the ground because the others are not sleeping, the others are turning things around - look at what we have seen this weekend with Renault, McLaren and Force India.

Unfortunately for Hamilton today, he lost the race and we don't know where he could have been because he had a puncture after contact at the beginning. You see these things are on the table when you are racing, but this year is more complicated than other times.

Q. Are you pleased with Kimi Raikkonen's performance over the first half of the season. Has it been adequate?

SD: I think we need to be very careful on analysing the performance of the drivers in comparison with the situation with the car, and on the situation of the tyres. I think that normally that is our approach. You never hear the team complain about any engineer or any driver, we just discuss about the performance of the team because the drivers are part of the team.

Q. Have you also frozen KERS development?

SD: Yes.

Q. Are you confident that the Concorde Agreement will get signed this week?

SD: We hope that the Concorde Agreement can be signed in the next couple of days. We are working flat out on our side and we are ready to do it. It is important that there will be no other changes, as we want to do it as it is now. That is our approach. For the benefit of the situation in F1 we really need to close this matter as soon as possible.

Q. Are you happy with the balance you have been able to strike between focusing your efforts on the team and focusing your efforts on F1?

SD: To be honest with you, I would have preferred to be more balanced for the team - but in this room we have to consider that it was a very critical moment for F1 and we have to make sure that we are doing our job. I feel a responsibility also being the team principal of Ferrari with all that Ferrari means for F1.

So I really hope that in the next couple of days we will close that. We need to find a new F1 that has more energy, more passion and positiveness around it - because that is what we need all of us.

Q. Where do you stand on the issue of your technical veto. Will you sign the Concorde Agreement if you do not get your technical veto?

SD: That was, as you know, not part of the Concorde Agreement. It was something totally separate, but for sure it is something that we are discussing with the FIA.

Q. If Max Mosley decides to stand for election, does Ferrari break away?

SD: As you know, it was a discussion and an agreement that was reached during the June 24 World Motor Sport Council. It was decided from Max not to re-stand for the new election, so let's go step by step. For me the most important thing is that we as F1, we give a positive future and we need to do it really as soon as possible.