I’m very proud to be the head of the Ferrari team

“I love Ferrari from the past, because I think if you have passion for motor racing you love Ferrari, or you don’t have the passion of motor racing if you don’t love Ferrari as certain people do. So in a way I’m very proud to be the head of the Ferrari team, but I’m more involved with the part of the time that I’ve been spending since I joined Ferrari.”

The result was a great reversal on last year’s race, when Michael Schumacher was beaten by brother Ralf in his Williams-BMW, but Todt wasn’t looking back at one result. “I think it’s very pleasing when you can successfully dominate a race. Our biggest satisfaction was when we realized how competitive our car was. This refers to all the championship, not just one race compared to last year.”

“Saying that, I still think last year we were very competitive. We had an outstanding season, so you cannot be arrogant to pretend that we have to win all the races otherwise it’s a disappointment.” As ever, he was cautious in referring to the competition, paying tribute to McLaren, for whom David Coulthard finished second. “They are third in the championship, they have got back a lot of points in two races. It is a world where things can change very quickly.”

Todt admitted that Michael’s one stop strategy was a gamble aimed at covering the eventuality that there might be a safety car period, and teammate Rubens Barrichello’s two stop strategy was aimed at covering the other possibility. “It’s a team decision. We talk and we knew that two pit stops was quicker unless there was a pace car. And we know that the pace car will come, particularly at this kind of circuit. So it was decided to be more conservative with Michael who is more in contention for the championship than Rubens.”