Domenicali: Title is in our hands

Stefano Domenicali reckons the Championship is Ferrari’s to win or to lose as despite his Belgian woes Fernando Alonso is still leading…

Stefano Domenicali reckons the Championship is Ferrari’s to win or to lose as despite his Belgian woes, Fernando Alonso still holds the lead.

Arriving at Monza for his team’s home grand prix, Alonso is leading the standings by 24 points over Sebastian Vettel while Mark Webber is a further eight off the pace.

It could have been a very different story, though, had the Spaniard not been taken out of last Sunday’s Belgian GP at the first corner.

However, Domenicali is at least drawing some comfort from the fact that his lead driver escaped serious injury in the crash.

“Naturally, there was disappointment from a sporting point of view, because the final result could have been totally different,” said the Ferrari team boss.

“I believe that, seeing how the race developed, we could have collected some very important points for the Championship.

“The relief comes from the fact that there could have been a very serious injury for Fernando, but he is fine, no problem at all.

“He came back with us on the charter flight to Maranello and on Monday, he was fine, without pain and already totally focused on the next race.”

That race is Monza where Domenicali says Ferrari need to up their game if they hope to stay ahead of the chasing pack in the standings.

“We left Belgium with the awareness that the Championship is still in our hands,” he said.

“It is in the hands of all the people at Maranello, who have to improve our car, because it is not yet at the level it should be.

“The competition is still very open and Fernando is still leading the Championship and that is the basis on which we can look ahead.”

He added: “There is a special feeling for our home race, but the reality is that the number of points on offer are the same as at the other 19 rounds, all around the world.

“To sum it up, I would like to think we can leave Monza having scored very special points at what is a very special race for us.”