Nice little interview with our two boys.
A little mistake on the 100th anniversary though:xmassmile:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/sp...ewanted=2&_r=1
All Formula One drivers sooner or later dream of racing for the series’ most iconic and successful team, Ferrari. This year, the Italian team won only one race — in Britain — and finished third in the series. But its goal is always to win the championship, which it has done more than any other team. To be a Ferrari driver is to be part of a long tradition at the top of Formula One. The drivers this year were Fernando Alonso, who won the drivers’ title with Renault in 2005 and 2006 and who joined the team last year, and Felipe Massa, who has been driving for the team since 2006. Massa signed a contract with the team as a rookie in 2002; he drove that year with Sauber — which had Ferrari engines — and then as a test driver for Ferrari in 2003, before returning to Sauber. Massa came within a point of winning the drivers’ title in 2008, missing out in the last race to Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes. Alonso finished fourth in the standings this year, just one point behind Mark Webber of Red Bull, and Massa finished sixth. Both Alonso and Massa will race again for Ferrari next season. They talked in separate interviews on the same recent day, addressing the same questions about the past, present and future with Brad Spurgeon of the International Herald Tribune.
Q. What is your general feeling about Ferrari’s performance this year?
A. Alonso: This year in overall performance was a big step forward for us, compared to last year. Last year we were learning to know each other, and in 2011 we tried to improve all the problems we had last year. This year we maximized the potential of the car at every single race, and I am very happy for that. We didn’t maybe have as competitive a car as last year and we are still third in the world championship — and that is a big achievement for us this year.
We improved the pit stops, we improved the starts that we were not totally happy with last year, we improved the strategy, the management of the race. Last year, there was a jump-start for me in China, and a crash for me in Monaco that did not allow me to qualify. Drivers always do mistakes, but this year I tried to improve the biggest mistakes that I did last year, and I tried to do only small mistakes this year that people don’t see. Overall, we improved in every area that we wanted to. The problem is that we found a very dominant Red Bull car this year, a superb [Sebastian] Vettel as well, and the combination of the two made it impossible for us to fight for the championship.
Massa: For sure, we didn’t have the result we expected, and I as well didn’t do the result I expected. I have been pushing very hard and will concentrate to do a very good season next year.
Q. What are your feelings about the team in general and your own position within the team now?
A. Alonso: Personally, I am very, very happy with 2011. It feels good. It is a team that is born to win and in the DNA of every single person in the team is a sense of competition, a passion for motor racing. And we are at a moment now that we want to win, we want to be dominant in Formula One and we know that we have to work hard for that and make some changes in this new low-cost Formula One. Because we have no testing, we have no possibility to be creative; there are the same tires for everybody, there is the engine freeze. So you need to readapt your organization if you want to be as dominant as Ferrari were in the last decade.
Massa: I have now been an official racing driver for Ferrari for six years. And I just heard that I have passed Gerhard Berger now in the number of the races I have done for Ferrari, and I am behind Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher. But Rubens raced six seasons for Ferrari and I am finishing my sixth season and going into my seventh season. It is pretty amazing. Every driver dreams to drive for Ferrari, I think when you see you are so long time like that, it is a good career. We always want more. But it is very good.
Q. What are your general feelings about next year?
A. Alonso: Next year, obviously the target is to be world champion again. For the Ferrari team and a Ferrari driver, there are no other targets but those before the season starts. Then, after the first four or five races you see how competitive you are. Ferrari has the best history in Formula One and a huge number of fans worldwide, it has very important sponsors; there is no other way to start the season other than thinking the championship is possible.
Massa: We are pushing very hard for next year’s car, to try to make the car. But it’s too early to say. It is difficult to say anything before the first race. Many people love to say so many things before the season, and most of it turns out to not be right. So it is better not to say anything and just to work, and when we get to the first race we start to say something. In most of the testing before the season this year we were very, very good. And at the first race we saw that we were not exactly where we wanted. It’s true that the rules were not changed much this year for next year, so for sure Red Bull will have a good car. But we are pushing to have a better car.
Q. When many drivers join Ferrari, they say that they will also retire when they finish their contracts at Ferrari, that there is no life after the Italian team. Is this how you feel?
A. Alonso: Yes, there is no doubt, no other possibility. I think that it is not possible to be in another place than Ferrari; any move after that is a step backward. And I won two championships, I won 27 Formula One Grands Prix, and I like this team. I like their way of thinking, and the Italian and the Spanish, we are quite similar in the way of culture, sense of humor. There are many things that make me feel at home here. I signed a contract until 2016 and I will be 35 years old then, so maybe that’s the right moment to retire. Maybe not. But if it is not the right moment, and I have the possibility to keep driving for Ferrari then I will do it. But if I don’t have that possibility, that moment will be a good moment to retire.
Massa: I started very young driving for Ferrari, and I don’t know when I’m going to stop racing. I still have one more year with Ferrari on my contract, so we’ll see. But for sure I am still enjoying racing for Ferrari.
For sure, even if Ferrari is not winning the championship and another team is winning the championship, Ferrari is still at the top. So I think when you move from Ferrari it can be a little step back, but it is a step back. And not just from the driving point of view, but if you put everything together of life at this team.
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Originally Posted by Alonsomaniac
. His exact words were "it'll be 99.9 %, Ferrari".
![[SIGPIC]](signaturepics/sigpic4369_5.gif)
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