Singapore, 24 September

The expression, “the lights go out” has never been more appropriate. The day after the fifth edition of the Singapore Grand Prix, the floodlights that turned night into day at the Marina Bay circuit have been switched off and the city traffic has returned to the streets, even if the crash barriers are still in place. The paddock is still lit up so that the dismantling operation can continue with the men from DHL putting together all the pallets of team equipment before flying it to its next destination: some of it will head home to Europe, some will go directly to Suzuka while other items will go by sea to Brazil, for the final round of the championship on 25 November in Sao Paolo. There are now three sets of two back to back races that make up the final rush: Japan-Korea, India-Abu-Dhabi and USA-Brazil. Therefore there is not much time left back in the factory to improve the cars and that’s why Stefano Domenicali and Pat Fry have already returned to Maranello to keep a close eye on the development work for the F2012, for the final races. Nothing can be left to chance in the effort to make a step forward in performance terms: not all the updates brought to Singapore lived up to expectations and unlike what happened in Monza in the previous race, the car was not able to compete with the best in the fight for pole position. Indeed, as Domenicali underlined when summing up the weekend with the media late last night, it doesn’t mean the team should now adopt an approach which he colourfully described as “orgasmic.” By this, the Scuderia Team Principal meant that the work must be carried out in a rational manner when it comes to analysing performance and understanding exactly what worked and what did not, so as to arrive in Suzuka in better shape. It would be too easy to say that everything is wrong and one should start again from the top: it’s important to understand why some parts, for example the rear wing, did not perform as they should have done. The faults must be found and then corrected. Logic says there is not much time, but one should remember the expression, “less haste, more speed.”

Another lesson to take away after a tough weekend in Singapore, is that one cannot take one’s eye off the ball for a second when it comes to reliability. Yesterday, the big favourite to win the race paid a very high price for a technical problem, but the risks are always lying in wait. From here on, every no score in the classification will cost dear and everyone, whatever their role within the team, must do their job to the maximum, watching every little detail. This is the only way to reach the final objective: one can do nothing about fate, look at the start at Spa, but one can work, on the track, in the office and in the factory. Currently the Scuderia ha every chance of fighting for both championships right to the end and that is down to the work the team has done on this front to date, but one cannot afford to drop one’s guard.