- Ferrari
Domenicali bullish over second place hopes
Stefano Domenicali says he remains confident Ferrari can beat Mercedes to second place in the constructors' championship.
Mercedes outscored Ferrari in both the Indian and Abu Dhabi grands prix to turn a ten-point deficit in the standings in to a lead of 11 points. Most worryingly for Ferrari, it looked even more uncompetitive in qualifying in Abu Dhabi as Fernando Alonso even failed to make the top 10, but Domenicali said the performance in India had given him more encouragement.
"Yes, I think [second is still possible], because we have had two different scenarios," Domenicali said. "For example, we are a little bit more rational. If you look at the performance that we had in India we were in terms of pure performance as quick as the others - take away Red Bull, for the moment they are in their own league and we'll start again next year - but with the others we are absolutely there.
"So I'm totally confident that we can do our race and we can really take the points that are needed to come second. Don't underestimate Lotus because today they had a problem and they scored points with one car, but that's racing. It will be an interesting end to the season."
Domenicali also said that the high temperatures experienced in India and Abu Dhabi had not been beneficial to Ferrari.
"For sure we know that we have a lack of traction and downforce in certain corners, but that's the way it is and we need to manage the set-up of the car in order to improve it. We know that we've also paid a big price in terms of temperature, because the more we go in the hot conditions the more our car is becoming inefficient. We are paying that price but we should move towards a situation where the conditions are more suitable for our conditions. That's what I think, so that's why I said I think that we have everything in order to fight up until the end for this place."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
