'Ayo Bangkit, Ferrari!'

Ferrari masih terseok-seok musim ini. Luca di Montezemolo selaku presiden pun mewanti-wanti agar timnya tak boleh tenggelam dalam kesedihan, segera bangkit dan beraksi di lintasan.

Dari dua seri terakhir, duo Ferrari hanya bisa mengemas empat poin saja. Ini adalah hasil sumbangan Fernando Alonso setelah si driver Spanyol finis di posisi delapan pada GP Eropa. Rekannya, Felipe Massa, malah belum pernah bisa mengemas angka lagi sedari GP Turki akhir Mei lalu.

Akibatnya, Ferrari tertinggal jauh dari para rivalnya di klasemen konstruktor dengan hanya menempati posisi tiga di bawah Red Bull dan McLaren si pemuncak klasemen. Alonso pun ketinggalan 47 poin dari pimpinan klasemen pembalap Lewis Hamilton, sementara Massa tertinggal lebih jauh dengan selisih 78 angka.

Keadaan memang sedang sulit untuk si 'Kuda Jingkrak'. Tapi Di Montezemolo tak mau timnya berlama-lama kecewa karena yang harus mereka lakukan adalah segera menuai hasil positif jika ingin tetap kompetitif.

"Menangis itu percuma, kami adalah Ferrari dan ini waktunya memperlihatkan hasil di lintasan. Saya ingin tim menghadapi paruh kedua musim dengan positif. Kami sudah melewati masa-masa yang lebih berat dan kami bisa melaluinya," tegas dia kepada La Gazzetta dello Sport yang dilansir Autosport.

"Tapi jelas kami tak boleh lagi membuang peluang untuk pelbagai alasan seperti dua balapan terakhir walau punya mobil kompetitif," imbuh Di Montezemolo.

Salah satu kunci kebangkitan cepat, menurut Di Montezemolo, terletak dari bagaimana para pembalapnya tancap gas sedini mungkin agar dapat mencatat waktu kompetitif di sesi kualifikasi.

"Dewasa ini kualifikasi dan start balapan menjadi momen-momen penentu. Kami harus membenahi dua aspek itu jika ingin menang. Saya mengharapkan semuanya memberikan usaha 100% agar bisa membawa pulang poin yang gagal kami dulang sejauh ini," seru dia.

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Vettel: Webber Seharusnya Diam

Sebastian Vettel mengkritik sikap rekan satu timnya, Mark Webber. Pembalap Jerman itu menilai koleganya itu seharusnya tidak membeberkan masalah internal ke hadapan publik.

GP Inggris akhir kemarin menyisakan bara di tubuh tim Red Bull. Pasalnya Webber mencuatkan adanya soal favoritisme dalam tubuh tim, dan yang menjadi "anak emas" adalah Vettel.

Ketika itu Vettel bersikap kalem menanggapi perkataan Webber. "Saya berusaha untuk menunjukkan bahwa kami saling menghormati satu sama lain," tukas pembalap berjuluk "Baby Schumi" itu kepada Bild seperti diberitakan Motorsport.

Namun dalam perkembangan selanjutnya Vettel mengkritik Webber. "Ada beberapa hal yang memang bukan untuk disebarkan kepada publik. Masalah seperti ini seharusnya diatasi secara internal tim," lugas pembalap berusia 22 tahun itu.

Vettel tidak ingin masalah ini berlarut-larut, karena bisa merugikan dirinya sendiri dan juga tim. "Yang terpenting adalah atmosfer dalam tim. Kami memiliki mobil yang kuat dan satu-satunya hal yang bisa membuat kami gagal adalah diri kami sendiri," serunya.

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Exclusive interview - Red Bull’s Mark Webber

Mark Webber is a title contender - and he’s got there the hard way. After his pre-season injuries last year, few had expected him to bounce back so forcefully in 2010. But there he is, taking advantage of what has generally been the fastest machine on the grid, even if Montreal showed that the RB6 is perhaps not a car for all tracks. This weekend he plans to take the fight back to McLaren on the streets of Valencia…

Q: Mark, last year your team mate Sebastian Vettel was fighting for the championship while you were struggling. This season you’ve developed into a serious title contender, staying ahead in the standings. What has changed?
Mark Webber: I don’t know really. I tried to give my best every year - and so far this season is turning out pretty well for me. I’ve been fast - that helps - and it is nice that some races have been straightforward and I’ve been able to win - also due to hard work. True, with the same amount of work and passion other races have not been that successful, but overall, yeah, it’s been a pretty good go so far. In 2009 I was never really in the situation to have such dominant weekends like that, so this year I feel much more consistent and faster at more venues. I don’t know why this is the case, but it is a nice problem to have.

Q: How important was it having had proper preparation for the season, unlike last year?
MW: Last year it was a mentally tough season for me because I had some surgery in between races and that didn’t help a lot. I wasn’t so much in pain - the conditions weren’t so bad - but mentally it was quite tough. On top of that I didn’t have an off-season because I broke my leg in November and had to work to recover. So January and February 2009 were the toughest months of my life actually, to get ready for the season - to get ready mentally. It was very rewarding to get back in the car, but the season went on and on. It was a long year! This year in between races - if I want to - I can do different things and don’t have to plan around medical stuff.

Q: Last year sometimes it seemed you had problems with the tyres. This year appears quite the opposite: you seem to be using them well - arguably better than Sebastian…
MW: I don’t know too much about that. I haven’t been a big fan of high-fuel qualifying - this year I like qualifying better. This might sound like a small thing, but it can make a difference. Tyres might have a little to do with that, but in the end it’s a driver’s job to cope with this. And nowadays there is a change in rules almost every week and a driver needs to get used to these changes. It is the challenge of the drivers to get used to new regulations each year. This is how it is.

Q: Would you say that it is still an advantage for you that you are older and have much more experience than Sebastian?
MW: Well, experience is always something that you get when you get older. You can’t buy it or go into a shop and grab it - and you cannot work harder to get more experience - it just comes with time. Sure it’s a difference if someone has done 200 Grands Prix or if someone is coming from GP2. It’s a completely different situation. We drivers have to learn the ropes along the way. Whether experience helps me, who knows? At least it doesn’t do you any harm.

Q: How would you rate your chances of becoming the next Australian Formula One champion?
MW: I would say: reasonable. I have a chance, no question about it, but there is still a long way to go and we have to see how the next couple of races go. It is way too early to start predicting who is hot and who is not for the title. There are several drivers who could pull it off.

Q: Who do you see as your main opponent?
MW: The five or six guys who make up the front places of the standings. They are all in my considerations.

Q: In the situation Red Bull are in, wouldn’t it be helpful to have a clear structure like Michael Schumacher had with Ferrari?
MW: Those days are over. You cannot run a business like this anymore. I don’t think that the fans would accept it and I don’t think that the people in the team would do it. It was very, very unusual what happened with Michael and Rubens (Barrichello) to be honest. There obviously was an agreement in place with Rubens. But think back to Austria- did we like that? What happened there was ridiculous. No, as I said, those days are gone.

Q: When you look at a photo of your crash with Sebastian in Turkey, what caption would you give that photo?
MW: Ah, that is an easy one: ‘At this point think of Milton Keynes!’ It was the whole team that suffered.

Q: What was your first thought after the collision?
MW: Think of the team. Jesus, we are hitting each other - that cannot be positive for the team. But of course you think about yourself pretty fast after that…

Q: The RB6 has generally been the fastest car on the grid - at six out of eight races a Red Bull driver has been on pole - and yet you’re leading neither the drivers’ nor constructors’ championship. What is the reason for that? It cannot just be bad luck…
MW: You could say that some reliability issues have cost us some points, for sure. But if you look it from another angle you could say that I am the only driver who scored points in every race. Is this the key for winning the championship? There are many points that add to the title win. One of them is winning races - you cannot say, ‘hey, I’ll just take fourth or fifth places’ - that will not do.

Q: Do you think that McLaren have now closed the gap?
MW: They have done pretty good in the last races, but to be honest it was not a huge surprise for us to see them shine in the races they won. We expected that. But we also have been very satisfied with our pace in Montreal - a track not too much to our liking. Sure they had a nice momentum with finishing Turkey and Montreal one-two, but we know - and they know - that they are not going to finish first and second at every race.

Q: Do you think that Montreal was the worst track for Red Bull?
MW: Probably one of them. Put it like this: McLaren would not want to go to Monte Carlo every week; Ferrari probably don’t want to go to Turkey again - ever - because it didn’t work for them; and for us Montreal’s a bit that way.

Q: You recently signed for another year with Red Bull Racing. Why only one year?
MW: This was heavily driven by me and my management, because I am taking it each year as it comes. This doesn’t mean that I am wasting one thought on finishing my career after that year. If people think that a one-year contract will put pressure on me, forget it.

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