I’ve been back in Switzerland since yesterday morning already and I think that with the race having started at 12, lots of Formula 1 people made the most of it to get home quickly. A couple of days on from the race, the sense of disappointment that we missed out on a win that was within our grasp has been replaced with the awareness that we did actually get a great result. We have to look at it as a glass half full because, on the Thursday we would have been satisfied with the thought of a podium finish. We were competitive throughout the whole weekend, both in qualifying and the race, which is very positive. We were back to where we have been in practically all the other races, the one exception being Turkey, where for various reasons, everything about the Grand Prix went wrong, from every point of view. The normal situation is the one we have seen in Montreal, Monaco, Melbourne and Sakhir and all the other tracks where we fought for a podium finish. Maybe the results did not always match our potential, but I think the same can be said for all the top teams. In these first eight races of the season, all sorts of things happened – mistakes, reliability problems, bad luck – but we are still in the thick of the fight for both championships. The same can be said of McLaren and Red Bull, who have also missed out on points along the way.
The Montreal race was very spectacular and incident packed, not just because of the nature of the track, but also because of the different strategies chosen by the teams, as a function of the tyre performance. I think the spectators at the track and those watching on television really enjoyed it, but I can assure you that for the drivers and the teams, it was a difficult and stressful weekend, because it was never really clear how the tyres would react in the various situations that arose.
The next round is in Valencia in my home country. It will be nice to race in front of my fans and I would like to get on the podium again, given that Valencia is another circuit where I have never done so. We will have major updates on the F10 which I hope will allow us to up our performance level. Following on from that, we have further developments in the pipeline which should arrive for England and Germany: which is to say that the European Grand Prix is simply the ninth round of the championship, not a last ditch effort for Ferrari, which I heard some people saying. I don’t see how they can say that given that we have not even reached the halfway point of the season and that after Valencia there will still be ten Grands Prix to go. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again now, this is a stage event and the final one of those stages will not come until November in Abu Dhabi. There is still a long way to go and things can change very quickly, going either one way or the other. People seem to have forgotten that last year, in the middle part of the season and in a car that was getting ever less competitive, Kimi was the driver who had scored the most points.
The Turkish Grand Prix was without doubt the worst event of the season. Our performance level was simply not competitive compared to McLaren and Red Bull and in qualifying, we even struggled against teams that up until now, were behind us. I wasn’t able to get to Q3 and so that compromised my race: when you start from twelfth, there is not much you can do.
On Sunday I did what I could: it was a case of damage limitation and I think we succeeded in that. On the opening lap I did not lose any places, which was not that easy given I was starting from the dirty side of the track. After that, I managed to get ahead of some cars thanks to a good pit stop strategy. Then came the most boring part of the race. I was at the back of a train made up of the two Mercedes, the two Renaults and the two Ferraris. We all had more or less the same pace, so overtaking would have been very tricky. At first, I tried to look after the tyres to see if that would give me a chance in the final laps and indeed, at the end, Petrov was struggling more than me with his tyres and I made the most of it to overtake him four laps from the chequered flag.
All the same, it wasn’t easy and in the passing move I damaged a wheel rim, but luckily I was able to finish the race without any problems, bringing home at least a few points. I am sorry I was not able to celebrate Ferrari’s eight hundredth Grand Prix in a fitting way. In Istanbul we were not quick enough and we have to react immediately. The championship is still wide open with everything to play for. I am fourth in the classification, fourteen points off the leader and if the old points system still applied, the difference would be just four. However, it’s clear we need to make a jump forward in terms of developing the car. Over the first four races, we matched the pace of our main rivals, but since we have been back in Europe, that is no longer the case. When I was racing against Ferrari, I admired its ability to react, producing probably the best development during the season. The people are the same now, so there is no reason why the same thing cannot happen this year: I trust our team and, above all, I trust in the will to win that every last one of us shares.
For Valencia, we will have a major update package which should see us make a good step forward, but I believe that already in Canada, we will have a different situation. The Montreal circuit will be better suited to the characteristics of the F10 and I think we will definitely be more competitive.
I arrived tonight in Istanbul having spent a few days in Maranello. With the team, we have worked hard to be as well prepared as possible for the upcoming weekend of World Championship action, an event that has a special significance for all of Ferrari. It’s here in Istanbul that the Scuderia celebrates its eight hundredth Grand Prix in Formula 1, which is an amazing achievement. My role in this exceptional story only started a few months ago and it is only six chapters long, but I can already understand how special it is to be part of the legend that is Ferrari.
Apart from the work with the team, I have also been on the simulator and, yesterday I was able to indulge in my two favourite sports; football and cycling. Yesterday afternoon, I watched a stage of the Giro d’Italia, along with Stefano Domenicali and it was a great experience. It was a time trial, from San Vigilio di Marebbe to Plan de Corones and I followed my friend Carlos Sestre every inch of the way on a support motor bike. I like cycling as part of my training programme but I also like to watch the big races. I had already been to the Tour de France and the Vuelta, but never the Giro: it was a great atmosphere with lots of support, especially for the Italian riders. I tried to give my support to Carlos and the other Spanish riders: one of them still wears the pink jersey and I was pleased to join him on the podium when he put it on again at the end of the stage.
In the evening, in Modena, I played football in the charity match between the Telethon and Nazionale Italiana Cantanti teams. Once again here there was a great crowd with the stadium filled almost to capacity: the Italians really know how to show their support and on this occasion they had good cause, namely to gather donations for medical research.
The race in Istanbul kicks off the second third of the championship and there is still everything to play for. Even if, so far, the Red Bulls have been the most competitive, the field is evenly matched, with at least five or six drivers in the hunt for the title. I hope this will be a “normal” race in that I should not find myself once again at the back of the pack after a few laps, which is what has happened for one reason or another in four of the first six races this year. We have the potential to be competitive and it would be fantastic to be able to celebrate the Scuderia’s eight hundredth Grand Prix with a great result!