Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has praised the Italian team's recovery in the 2010 championship after Fernando Alonso's back-to-back wins, but team boss Stefano Domenicali says that the "difficult part" of the title fight was still to come.
Alonso has secured victory in the last two races in Italy and Singapore, and has outscored all of his title rivals by some distance over the last five races.
His resurgence in the championship has been a remarkable turnaround from his disastrous mid-season run, with his previous five races producing just a single podium finish.
Alonso's win on Sunday moved him to within 11 points of the top of the championship with just four races to go this season.
And di Montezemolo praised every member of the Italian team for helping to turn the team's fortunes around, in a rabble-rousing speech to the team's factory workforce in Maranello.
"These wins are down to the work of the team and have not just dropped out of the sky through luck," he bellowed, possibly from some sort of pulpit.
"Everyone, from the people on the pit wall, to the pit stop crew, those in the garage, the people here in the factory and the drivers out on track, have all made a positive contribution."
He went on: "I am proud to be your president and I am pleased for Stefano Domenicali and all his people who never gave up when things seemed very difficult.
"This is the team I want: made up of people who go about their work quietly, who do not get downhearted when facing difficulties and who keep their feet firmly on the ground when things go well again."
But Domenicali made sure that the egos of his staff weren't stroked too much, when he warned them that they will need to keep working right to the end of the season, with the fight at the front set to get even harder.
"We are on the right road, but the difficult part is still ahead of us," he muttered sagely.
"Having been confronted with making up as big a gap as the one we faced just over two months ago, the effort becomes even more arduous as one gets closer to our goal and when every point seems as heavy as a rock.
"Striving for total reliability, improving performance, sticking to our working practices, concentrating at all times and, above all, keeping calm: that is the recipe we must stick to in the coming decisive weeks."
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|





