In the wake of yet another season where Ferrari start on the back foot, the marque’s President Luca di Montezemolo met with star driver Fernando Alonso in the latter’s hotel room in Bahrain.
Alonso revealed to Italian media, “[Montezemolo] came on Sunday morning and we worked together in my room for ten minutes. We tried to put together everything we found in the first two races and what will be the next steps coming from the performance side and the car, with maximum pushing and maximum dedication from everyone in the team.
In the build-up to Bahrain reports circulated that McLaren supremo Ron Dennis was targeting Fernando Alonso to lead the Woking outfit’s new Honda era which gets underway in 2015.
Alonso added of the impromptu visit by his boss, “He just wanted to pass me this message that Ferrari is doing 100 percent, and on our side as well – the drivers, engineers, mechanics and everyone track-side will work day and night because no one is happy.”
“We are very united in the team and the President can be 100 percent sure that we will do 24 hours starting from Tuesday and Wednesday when we do the test. I will drive both days and we won’t rest until the situation changes.”
Ferrari lag behind Mercedes by a fair margin, some even claiming the deficit to be around two seconds per 100 seconds, and reportedly, their Power Unit is not only overweight, but also down on terminal speed.
Alonso explained, “It’s not good obviously. We would like to have extra speed and be able to battle with everyone. At the moment we are missing that aspect, but we have some strong points and some of the circuits will show those qualities.”
“If at the next grand prix or two we are quicker than Hulkenberg and Williams etc, we can say to them that they are missing some of the speed that Ferrari has in the corners.”
As for the areas that need improvement, Alonso replied frankly, “It depends circuit to circuit, but we need to improve in all areas. On the chassis side, on aerodynamic efficiency, power – there are many things and we need to deliver some good results in the next races.” (GP247)
Subbed by AJN.