Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro News

Montezemolo: “Alonso, the right driver at the right time”

Maranello, 18 December – The biggest change for Ferrari in 2010 is definitely Fernando Alonso in the driver line-up alongside Felipe Massa. “We have been watching him since 2007 and Domenicali discussed it with me this summer,” recounted Montezemolo, addressing journalists at the Christmas dinner. “He is an extremely talented driver, quick and good at working with a team, while being totally focussed on winning. I think he is coming to Ferrari at just the right time in his career. We had already reached an agreement for 2011, when both our drivers’ contracts would have expired. Then, we realised that our team needed a driver capable of really getting involved with the engineers, a characteristic that was not part of Kimi’s genetic make-up, even though he is an amazingly talented guy. Then came Felipe’s unexpected accident and, before taking a decision, we needed to know what his prospects were. Once we were certain he was fine, then in light of what was going on at Renault, we decided to try and bring Alonso on board a year ahead of schedule. Let’s make one thing clear, we were very happy with everything Kimi did for Ferrari during his time at Maranello: he won the world championship in his first year and played a vital part in our taking the Constructors’ title in his second year, while in this difficult season he at least managed to secure us one victory.

However, we were aware that something else was needed for the way we operate and therefore, we opted for Alonso. The role of Santander? Certainly, they are happy, but it is not the sponsors that choose the drivers: we have never operated like that and we never will.”

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Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro News

Montezemolo: “I have faith in the team”

Maranello, 18 December - “2009 was bad, but I am confident that for next season, we can return to our winning ways.” Luca Montezemolo is counting on the Scuderia’s desire to react and get over this year’s interruption to its usual form. “From 1997 up until now, we have nearly always been in the fight for the title, winning it many times, or losing out at the final race. The only two exceptions have been 2005 and this season just gone. There are reasons for the drop in performance, especially the grey areas in the regulations, which led to different interpretations and the way in which decisions relating to these were taken. Then, we also have to consider that, in 2008, we fought right to the bitter end, trying to win the title, just as a major rule change was on the horizon. Furthermore, especially at the start of the season, we made mistakes and there were problems with reliability which cost us dear. Then, we reacted. Domenicali worked on the team which, in the second part of the season, worked perfectly. The team also worked on the car, but unfortunately, there was no way to alter its basic design philosophy. We introduced the new diffuser, but that alone was not enough: it was like when we were young and tried to fit a radio to a car not designed to accommodate one. In fact, at the end of July, we decided in any case to cease development of the F60, in order to concentrate on the design of the new car. Unfortunately, just as we began to rack up a few good results, Felipe had his terrible accident. We were very concerned for him, first of all as a person and then in terms of his future as a driver. The rest is history. Thanks to Kimi, we managed at least one win, but then we became ever more uncompetitive, partly because so many others were still pushing hard on the development front. Neither Fisichella, nor the fearless Badoer managed to get a result with a difficult car and so we ended up fourth.”

Now, it is time to turn the page and get Ferrari back to its rightful place. “I repeat, I have a lot of faith in this team, which let us not forget, has won three titles in three years and lost a fourth in a manner that everyone remembers,” continued Montezemolo. “I recall there were many who said we would not know how to win after the Schumacher and Brawn era, but that was not the case. For 2010, we have a great driver pairing, the best for a team like ours.” There are no major changes to the team structure, as confirmed by Team Principal, Stefano Domenicali. “We have consolidated certain changes made during the course of the season, such as Chris Dyer in the role of Head of Race Engineering and alongside him are young and up and coming people such as Diego Ioverno. The responsibility for aerodynamics has been handed to Marco De Luca, while Andrea Stella will be Alonso’s race engineer, a role he filled with Raikkonen. Contrary to what has been written, there is no influx of engineers following the Spaniard, because we have a highly rated group of people here, who have shown they know how to win. The most important change concerns the Engine and Electronics department, which since October has been run by Luca Marmorini, a very experienced engineer, who knows Ferrari well, having cut his teeth here before moving on to tackle another challenge.”

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Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro News

The Schumacher twins

Maranello, 18 December 2009 – There is a lot of talk about Michael Schumacher possibly making a Formula 1 comeback and this was one of the most discussed topics during the traditional seasonal meeting between Ferrari President, Luca di Montezemolo and the Italian and international media, which took place yesterday in Maranello.

“The real Schumacher, the one I know, will remain forever part of the Ferrari family. “I said it in Monza and I repeated it in Abu Dhabi,” said Montezemolo, before proceeding with some irony, “but, it seems he has a twin brother, identical in every way, who seems to have it in his head to go and race in Formula 1 with Mercedes. I don’t know him personally, but it seems we have nothing to offer him: we have two young drivers in Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, on whom we are counting to deliver a lot next year. Joking apart, Michael’s current role revolves around the development of our road cars, including the important phase which saw us launch the 458 Italia, which is the essence of technology and owes a lot to research carried out on track with the Formula 1 car. I think that, this summer, when I asked him to stand in for Felipe, after the terrible accident in Budapest, he suddenly rediscovered the desire to race and the fact he was unable to follow through with that, left him a void that we are unable to fill. I remember how despondent he sounded on the evening of 9 August, when he called me to say that the problem with his neck meant he could not race in Valencia. It’s lucky that, despite the unsporting stance of some, we were able to run him in the 2007 car at Mugello, otherwise Michael would not have been fully aware of his situation. We have tried to move forward with the idea of running a third car, but for the moment, that is not possible. I don’t know what he will decide for the future, but I extend to him and indeed his twin brother, my very best wishes.”

2010 FIA Formula One World Championship Race Calendar

1. 2010 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix (Sakhir) * 12 - 14 Mar

2. 2010 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne) * 25 - 28 Mar

3. 2010 Formula 1 Malaysian Grand Prix (Kuala Lumpur) * 02 - 04 Apr

4. 2010 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix (Shanghai) * 16 - 18 Apr

5. Formula 1 Gran Premio de Espana 2010 (Catalunya) * 07 - 09 May

6. Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2010 (Monte Carlo) * 13 - 16 May

7. 2010 Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix (Istanbul) * 28 - 30 May

8. Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2010 (Montreal) * 11 - 13 Jun

9. 2010 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe (Valencia) * 25 - 27 Jun

10. 2010 Formula 1 British Grand Prix (Donington Park) * 09 - 11 Jul

11. Formula 1 Grosser Preis von Deutschland 2010 (Hockenheim) * 23 - 25 Jul

12. Formula 1 ING Magyar Nagydij 2010 (Budapest) * 30 Jul - 01 Aug

13. 2010 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix (Spa-Francorchamps) * 27 - 29 Aug

14. Formula 1 Gran Premio d'Italia 2010 (Monza) * 10 - 12 Sep

15. 2010 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix (Singapore) * 24 - 26 Sep

16. 2010 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix (Suzuka) * 01 - 03 Oct

17. 2010 Formula 1 Korean Grand Prix (Korea) * 15 - 17 Oct

18. 2010 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Yas Marina Circuit) * 29 - 31 Oct

19. Formula 1 Grande Premio do Brasil 2010 (Sao Paulo) * 12 - 14 Nov

* Provisional

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2009 FIA Formula 1 World Championship Drivers

1. Jenson Button (British) Brawn-Mercedes Pts 95

2. Sebastian Vettel (German) RBR-Renault Pts 84

3. Rubens Barrichello (Brazilian) Brawn-Mercedes Pts 77

4. Mark Webber (Australian) RBR-Renault Pts 69.5

5. Lewis Hamilton (British) McLaren-Mercedes Pts 49

6. Kimi Räikkönen (Finnish) Ferrari Pts 48

7. Nico Rosberg (German) Williams-Toyota Pts 34.5

8. Jarno Trulli (Italian) Toyota Pts 32.5

9. Fernando Alonso (Spanish) Renault Pts 26

10. Timo Glock (German) Toyota Pts 24

11. Felipe Massa (Brazilian) Ferrari Pts 22

12. Heikki Kovalainen (Finnish) McLaren-Mercedes Pts 22

13. Nick Heidfeld (German) BMW Sauber Pts 19

14. Robert Kubica (Polish) BMW Sauber Pts 17

15. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italian) Ferrari Pts 8

16. Sebastien Buemi (Swiss) STR-Ferrari Pts 6

17. Adrian Sutil (German) Force India-Mercedes Pts 5

18. Kamui Kobayashi (Japanese) Toyota Pts 3

19. Sebastien Bourdais (French) STR-Ferrari Pts 2

20. Kazuki Nakajima (Japanese) Williams-Toyota Pts 0

21. Nelsinho Piquet (Brazilian) Renault Pts 0

22. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italian) Force India-Mercedes Pts 0

23. Romain Grosjean (French) Renault Pts 0

24. Jaime Alguersuari (Spanish) STR-Ferrari Pts 0

25. Luca Badoer (Italian) Ferrari Pts 0 _____________________________________________________

2009 FIA Formula 1 World Championship Constructors

1. Brawn-Mercedes Pts 172

2. RBR-Renault Pts 153.5

3. McLaren-Mercedes Pts 71

4. Ferrari Pts 70

5. Toyota Pts 59.5

6. BMW Sauber Pts 36

7. Williams-Toyota Pts 34.5

8. Renault Pts 26

9. Force India-Mercedes Pts 13

10. STR-Ferrari Pts 8 _____________________________________________________

2009 FIA Formula One World Championship

1. Australia Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes)

2. Malaysia Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes)

3. China Sebastian Vettel (RBR-Renault)

4. Bahrain Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes)

5. Spain Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes)

6. Monaco Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes)

7. Turkey Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes)

8. Great Britain Sebastian Vettel (RBR-Renault)

9. Germany Mark Webber (RBR-Renault)

10. Hungary Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)

11. Europe Rubens Barrichello (Brawn-Mercedes)

12. Belgium Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari)

13. Italy Rubens Barrichello (Brawn-Mercedes)

14. Singapore Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)

15. Japan Sebastian Vettel (RBR-Renault)

16. Brazil Mark Webber (RBR-Renault)

17. Abu Dhabi Sebastian Vettel (RBR-Renault)

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HALL OF FAME

FIA Formula One World Drivers Champions 1950 – 2009

Jenson Button (British) Brawn-Mercedes 2009

Lewis Hamilton (British) McLaren-Mercedes 2008

Kimi Räikkönen (Finnish) 2007

Fernando Alonso (Spanish) Renault 2005-2006

Michael Schumacher (German) Benetton-Ford, Benetton-Renault, Ferrari 1994-1995, 2000-2004

Mika Hakkinen (Finnish) McLaren-Mercedes 1998-1999

Jacques Villeneuve (Canadian) Williams-Renault 1997

Damon Hill (British) Williams-Renault 1996

Alain Prost (French) McLaren-TAG, McLaren- Honda, Williams-Renault 1985-1986, 1989, 1993

Nigel Mansell (British) Williams-Renault 1992

Ayrton Senna (Brazilian) McLaren-Honda, 1988, 1990-1991

Nelson Piquet (Brazilian) Brabham-Ford, Brabham-BMW, Williams-Honda 1981, 1983, 1987

Niki Lauda (Austrian) Ferrari, McLaren-TAG 1975, 1977, 1984

Keke Rosberg (Finnish) Williams-Ford 1982

Alan Jones (Australian) Williams-Ford 1980

Jody Scheckter (South African) (Ferrari) 1979

Mario Andretti (American) Lotus-Ford 1978

James Hunt (British) McLaren-Ford 1976

Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazilian) Lotus-Ford, McLaren-Ford 1972, 1974

Jackie Stewart (British) Matra-Ford, Tyrrell-Ford 1969, 1971, 1973

Jochen Rindt (Austrian) Lotus-Ford 1970

Graham Hill (British) BRM, Lotus-Ford 1962, 1968

Denny Hulme (New Zealander) Brabham-Repco 1967

Jack Brabham (Australian) Cooper-Climax, Brabham-Repco 1959-1960, 1966

Jim Clark (British) Lotus-Climax 1963, 1965

John Surtees (British) Ferrari 1964

Phil Hill (American) Ferrari 1961

Mike Hawthorn (British) Ferrari 1958

Juan Manuel Fangio (Argentinean) Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes, Ferrari 1951, 1954-1957

Alberto Ascari (Italian) Ferrari 1952-1953

Nino Farina (Italian) Alfa Romeo 1950