Maranello - It’s a bit more than a year ago that I won my last Formula One race. At Barcelona in 2008 I had my best weekend with Ferrari: pole position, victory and fastest race lap. Since then I came very close several times – I’m thinking of Magny-Cours, Montreal and Spa – but for one reason or the other I could never make it. Having said that, a driver never looses the lust for winning and I want to have that feeling again as soon as possible.
After four races outside Europe it’s always very nice to come back to the Old World. Furthermore I really like the Circuit de Catalunya a lot, also because I could win here already twice in my career. I really liked hearing from the Team that the new aerodynamic package’s first signs are positive. It will be really interesting taking the car out during Friday’s free practice sessions. We drove on this track back in March this year, but it’s always really difficult to understand from the tests, who’s really strong in the field. Furthermore many cars have changed quite a lot since then. With the new aerodynamic package we’ll have more downforce compared to the first four races, but also almost all of the others will show up with some updates. We’ll see who has done better work.
Aerodynamic efficiency is crucial at the Circuit de Catalunya for a good lap time. It’s a very demanding track from a technical point of view and you need a good car to be competitive. A good qualifying will be important to avoid getting stuck in the field with all the risks coming with a situation like this at the start; we paid our price for that at Bahrain. Overtaking is never easy at Barcelona, but now we’ll see if the KERS can help to make it easier. On such a track it might make the difference, especially at the start.
Until now we gained only three points. The sixth place at Bahrain was a decent result, but now we have to reach much higher. I spent some days at home in Switzerland. I trained and followed the ice hockey world championships, which are held in Switzerland this year. Obviously I’m shouting for Finland. Monday night we played very well and we won against Canada: this match showed that you should never give up and fight right until the end. This is what we’ll do at Ferrari.
Tomorrow I’ll go to London for the opening of the new Ferrari Store on Regent Street. On Thursday I’ll fly to Spain. It will be a very interesting weekend.