"Fernando is the best of them all"

Stefano Domenicali joined the administrative department of Ferrari 20 years ago and, after having worked in practically every area of the Italian company, got the job of Formula 1 team principal in 2008. It's the division that best reflects the values of the company, but also the place where there is the most pressure. For Italians, Ferrari is a source of huge national pride, but for a while now things have not been going well. Fernando Alonso, who was widely tipped to win a championship at Ferrari, has struggled both this season and last, while his teammate Felipe Massa has fared even worse. Before Saturday's qualifying session at the South Korean Grand Prix, the man who is both Alonso and Massa's boss spoke to EL PAÍS.

"Anyone who thinks that we can always win is either crazy or drunk"

Question. Did you ever think you were going to have to cope with a situation like this?

Answer. What I am going through at the moment is normal. If anyone thinks that we can always win, they are either completely crazy or drunk. Being the rational person that I am, I knew we could face a situation like this one. We have to manage the negativity that surrounds us. This is not a good season, but we have to keep our motivation high.

Q. You've been saying for a while that you are building a solid team with a view to next year. What decisions are you taking?

A. We are faced with a circle that defines the sport, but one that also defines life. When you are coming off the back of a long period of wins, it's normal that you then have another period when you don't win, because everyone else is reacting. The aim is to make sure that the period is as short as possible. We have taken a step forward in terms of the management of our races and we need to improve our simulators and aerodynamics, which is the key to victory.

Q. How hard is it to change your methodology?

A. Changing people's mentality takes time. You mustn't forget that we have come from a situation where we had no limits or restrictions \[on budgets or testing, which are now strictly limited in order to keep costs down\]. Winning was and continues to be the most important thing for us, but the circumstances that surround us are now completely different from those we had a few years ago. Then we could do around 90,000 kilometers of testing, we had no budget or staffing limits, and, as such, we could strive for maximum performance. Now the situation is different, which is why we have to change our mentality, and, at the same time, strengthen certain people within the group and reinforce the team with new vitality. You could say that Ferrari is optimizing.

Q. Who is showing the real level of the Ferrari 150º, Fernando Alonso or Felipe Massa?

A. Fernando has been able to get the most out of the car because he is unique, the best of them all. If we have to define the level of the car, you just have to look at our position in the world championship. We are third \[behind Red Bull and McLaren\]. We have seen that this prototype has been very fast in some situations, and very slow in others, but Fernando has been able to get the most out of it when he has been competitive and he has minimized his weaknesses when he hasn't.

Q. Does next year worry you?

A. Of course I'm a little bit scared, but that's normal at the end of the day. We need to hit the mark, and that is what I'm asking of my engineers. How do we know we're on the right track? Rather than an evolution, Ferrari is looking at a revolution.