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"That’s
it. My story with Ferrari ended last Sunday in Abu Dhabi: with the
“Reds” I had the possibility to make one of my dreams come
true, while now I’m looking ahead, waiting for new challenges.
What’s for sure is that I’ll leave Maranello with lots of very
nice memories. Over the last three years I’ve won nine races and
a Drivers’ Title and I contributed to winning two Constructors’
Championships. I made many friends at Ferrari and we spent some
great moments together. True, this year things didn’t go as we
had expected, but in the world of racing you can always have a
year where things go a little wrong. The package wasn’t
competitive, but nevertheless we managed to finish fourth, just
one point behind the third in the standings. We had problems with
the car, but nevertheless we brought home some good result,
starting with the victory in Spa. The team demonstrated that it
knows how to react, what we could see after the bad start into the
season.
We
didn’t do well in Abu Dhabi, but we knew that gaining points
would be difficult: this circuit has lots of corners and we were
lacking downforce and grip. Furthermore we had problems on the
kerbs, worsening the situation. When you start from the eleventh
position and cross the line twelfth, you don’t have to say
anything. The circuit’s structures are just breathtaking, but
the track didn’t offer too many possibilities for overtaking and
in the end the race turned into some sort of parade.
Now
everybody is fully concentrated on the next season, as Ferrari has
already been for several months. There will be further changes –
refuelling won’t be allowed anymore and the front tyres will be
thinner – but they won’t be as radical as this year. At the
start of the races the single-seaters will be fairly difficult to
drive with all the fuel on board and it will be crucial that we
don’t stress the tyres too much. The qualifyings will be lots of
fun, because we’ll drive with almost empty tanks in Q3. I’ve
been racing for nine years in Formula 1 now. I still want to win
races and titles, but I’ll only stay in F1 if I can find a team
that can guarantee me a car I can use to fight for victory.
Let’s see what will happen in the upcoming weeks."
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