FERRARI'S DOMENICALI Post German GP Interview *SPOILER*

(Read before you criticize Raikkonen or Massa)

Q. Normally the race pace of the Ferrari compared with McLaren is better, but today it seemed that on your strong disciplines like saving the tyres you couldn't make any use of it?

Stefano Domenicali: "This was one of the most critical points of this weekend. Normally, we know that McLaren are fast over a single lap and that they play the trade-off with the consistency and the pace during the race.

"Unfortunately, today we have seen that was not the case. In qualifying they are really strong of course, but if you consider the fuel that they had for Lewis (Hamilton) and (Heikki) Kovalainen, the lap of Felipe's was really good.

"This time, if you think that in the first stint we were slower by half a second, it shows there is something that has to be really understood. We have to go deeply into the details without taking any quick solutions because that's the mistake that we shouldn't do in this moment."

Q. Felipe was saying that towards the end of the race he had a problem with the brakes and that was why he couldn't attack Nelson (Piquet). Was the braking problem anything to do with the lack of pace in the first stint?

SD: "I think we had a problem of the high temperature of the brakes, that is one of the reasons why he was not able to attack. Generally, he was also not happy about the grip of the car, so he couldn't be aggressive either on soft or hard tyres.

"So that was really the main problem. That is the reason why, in that condition, we were not able even to attack Piquet."

Q. You mentioned that you had good pace yesterday but not so much today. The easiest answer would be that the conditions had changed - could that be the reason?

SD: "Possibly. But, as I said, today I don't want to take any premature reasons because we need to go deeply and analyse the reason for this situation. It's in a way too mircoscopic to have an easy solution.

"For sure what we have seen today is something we haven't seen from the start of the season in terms of consistency and pace. It's clear that McLaren have made another step forward in respect of the consistency during the race.

"During this weekend, in the long runs, they were pretty good. But on the other side today I'd say we were too slow and we have to understand the reason why."

Q. Kimi hasn't won since Spain at the end of April. Taking aside Canada when he was taken out, he isn't exactly showing championship-winning form at the moment. Would you agree?

SD: "Well, you have to look at the points. The thing I don't want to do now, or ever, is to make a risky conclusion on the driver situation. As we said for example at Silverstone for Felipe after that race, I don't want to say something with Kimi.

"For sure he is the first one not to be happy about the situation but I'm pretty sure that he's very keen to react in Hungary, as we are all together."

Q. He was far from happy this weekend, though, he really struggled out there?

SD: "Yes true, he was not happy at all about his car behaviour since Friday. He said the car was too nervous at the rear and he couldn't have the grip that he wanted.

"If you compare what we have seen during the test of last week, this is the reason why I said I don't completely understand the reason why, because last week we were pretty competitive in the last section so we need to analyse a lot."

Q. In the race today, did Kimi have the same feedback as Felipe?

SD: "Basically, yes. He was not happy with the general grip of the car. He couldn't be aggressive, he felt the rear was too lose, and for him it was not possible to be on the pace he wanted. If you look at the first stint it was the best in a way."

Q. It's not the first time that Kimi has struggled with the set-up between the test and the weekend. Is the window of the set-up quite small on the Ferrari, or is he generally having more difficulties to find it than Felipe?

SD: "For sure the window of set-up can be wider if you go to the direction that is not taking the car where you want. Generally speaking the difference is not so big.

Q. Looking at the entire season, could you compare a little bit how Kimi and Felipe's driving styles are different and their setups?

SD: "Well I think the only thing I can say for sure is, in terms of qualifying Felipe prefers to have lower fuel in order to be able to attack and have a different pace during the race. On the other side, Kimi prefers the oppositie. He wants to try to be a little bit longer because he knows that he is one of the strongest to be good in the rest of the race.

"This is the difference in terms of the style that they are attacking the race. It's difficult to say if in terms of set-up there is something different. For sure, the two drivers prefer that things are a little bit different for the car, but in terms of set-up it's not really significant."

Q. There will be a meeting on July 29 in Maranello, is this a sign of the new spirit at Ferrari as a team?

SD: "It will be a meeting in order to discuss, within the team, the situation of the future regulations following the letter of Max Mosley. It's a good opportunity to share and discuss what are the ideas of all the teams who are invovled in the sport."

Q. Is it significant that it's at Maranello when previously it was at the Hilton Hotel at the airport?

SD: "For sure, Ferrari and our president are very keen that Ferrari is willing to participate in that because Ferrari is part of Formula One and Mr di Montezemolo is really keen on that."