ROUND 1 , 2017 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
I think for all of us it is a positive surprise . I think the road we followed is pretty simple : we didn ’ t look left ; we didn ’ t look right ; we didn ’ t look forward ; we didn ’ t look back . I think we focussed on what we had to do at the time . Obviously there has been a lot of up and down , left and right the last 12 months but I think , especially the last couple of months , things calmed down and we just tried to do our job . Obviously there has been a big reshuffle but , as I said , people are happy , happy to work , working with each other . That ’ s the key . At the end there ’ s no shortcut , you need to get the job done and invest a lot of hours thinking . Passion , I think , is a great driver back in the factory , also here . I think up and down the pitlane the amount of hours the guys are covering is mad . You need to love what you ’ re doing but especially … I said it years ago joining Ferrari , there seems to be an extra passion just working for the Prancing Horse and , I think , just focussing on ourselves really has been the big difference . I think a key to deliver a great car , which we obviously have . The speeds look alright , both on the straights and in the corners we are competitive . As I said , I was able to stay with Lewis . They had a little bit the upper hand [ in qualifying ] but I knew , y ’ know , we had much better balance [ Saturday ] than on Friday so I knew in the race anything can happen . It ’ s the first race of the season , I ’ m surprised we didn ’ t have a Safety Car but anything can happen . I wanted to stay in there and make it clear we had the pace . It was nice to see that we have and , as I say , to get the job done .
GPI