Stefano Domenicali: “That We Don’t Have to Forget That This Sport is Always Very Dangerous”



Stefano Domenicali: OK. Well, I think that what we have seen during the last Canadian Grand Prix show how safety has improved in the last years. This is thanks to the FIA and to the world joint together with all the teams. If I have to say that if you have to think an accident like that a couple of years ago, maybe we would have a different situation. On one side, that’s for sure one conclusion. That shows us one thing: That we don’t have to forget that this sport is always very dangerous. So we don’t have to drop the attention on safety. One of the main things for sure, we have to keep that pressure, together with the FIA, to keep as much effort in that respect because it is so crucial. And this is for sure what we have seen in the last Grand Prix.

Moderator: Thank you, Norbert.

Some individual questions now to you all. Stefano, Kimi has had a fairly difficult start in many ways to the season. Do you feel that he’s becoming more confident now with the car?

Domenicali: Well, the answer is for sure, pretty sure that it is yes. I mean, the more and more he has the chance and the time to drive and the more he learned how to enter a new situation, the new car, the new tires and the relationship with the team. So I’m pretty positive that for sure this is a very important event for him and also for the team, and I’m pretty sure we will see the real Kimi very, very soon.

Moderator: Now, last weekend wasn’t a fantastic weekend for the team, but you were looking for increased performance here. This is very much a Ferrari circuit. Have you found that today?

Domenicali: For sure, the last Grand Prix was not the best one. It was really bad, but we don’t have to panic on that. I mean, we had a season where after the sixth Grand Prix we worked through races for pole position. We didn’t have, for sure, a lot of circumstances a great race in Canada and also Monte Carlo. Here for sure, looking at the situation over the last years, it was a good track for us. We know that our main competitor is McLaren-Mercedes, has done a great job, but I think today the situation has improved. We have done a good job in terms of learning, in terms of understanding the situation of the setup and the tires here. So that will be positive, for sure.

Moderator: Thank you. Some questions from the floor, please. If you’ll raise a hand, we’ll get a microphone to you.

Q: Stefano, can you tell us a little bit of what Michael Schumacher is contributing and doing within the team now?

Domenicali: As you know, Michael is part of our team, and you have seen him sometimes attending the races, but that’s not the real, the main role and the main activity that he has. He’s working with us and mainly with us and with our engineer in order to give his advice, is always his contribution to the way that he knows how to work around the car. This is something connected to the F1 but he has also an important role on the other side of the factory, and that is the work on the road cars. His experience is very important in tuning up the cars for our customers.

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