United States GP - The final journey

Company press release.

Maranello, 12 November – On these days, the Scuderia Ferrari team members will get on a coach at the factory in Maranello, bound for the airport and a flight to the USA on the first leg of the final journey of the 2013 season. On these days, the Scuderia Ferrari team members will get on a coach at the factory in Maranello, bound for the airport and a flight to the USA on the first leg of the final journey of the 2013 season. It will see them race in Austin and Sao Paolo before, like migrating birds, heading home for the winter. With all the talk in recent weeks being about the team's struggle to deliver a competitive car, its uphill battle to be on the pace, the fight to match the opposition, one could be forgiven for thinking the mood in the camp on the eve of the season's finale would be a sombre one. Nothing could be further from the truth, because going racing is at the very core of the Scuderia's and indeed the whole of Ferrari's raison d'etre. As its Sporting Director Massimo Rivola says, 'I think that when you work in Ferrari, the motivation is in your blood.'

Motivation is an important factor, but on its own it's not enough to sustain the wellbeing of the team in a hectic end of season that will have featured five Grands Prix in just seven weeks, including crossing the globe from east to west. Ensuring that the men and women in red are always in top shape is one of Rivola's responsibilities. 'It's true that the end of the season is pretty tough but it's also true that we have known the calendar since the beginning of the season, so rather like a football team, we try to plan our training in term of several factors, which includes looking after the mental and physical aspects,' says Rivola. 'It's a matter of education, with a proper programme in place to ensure everyone is eating the right thing, that they get the right amount of sleep and that they work in the best possible environment during the day, all aimed at keeping everyone in the best shape possible.'

Apart from being in good shape, the team members have to be in the right place at the right time, with all the equipment ready for use. That too is a Rivola responsibility. 'The figures are pretty impressive in terms of manpower and kilos,' he says. 'Including the Ferrari people who work for our customer teams, we number around a hundred.' These 'flyaways' outside Europe are more complex as the cars and equipment travel by air, so the paddocks feature a mass of pallets and flightcases that all have to be unpacked and packed in a certain order at the track. 'It's a bit more complicated in a way but our guys have a lot of experience so even when you have some new people joining the team, it's good that they have very experienced teachers to help them understand the job,' explains Rivola.

The majority of team members involved in setting up everything at the start of the race week also have a job to do in the garage, either as a mechanic, an IT specialist, a tyre man and so forth, which means that when the race is over on Sunday evening, some of them will have been working hard since the previous Monday. 'After they have done their job, which might include being part of the pit stop crew, they have to pack up everything,' continues Rivola, 'so we need to be very vigilant at these times, as this is an easy moment for people to get hurt.'

Currently the Scuderia is third in the Constructors' classification with Alonso second on the Drivers' points sheet and getting second place in both is now the end of year target for the men in red. 'It's a source of motivation, even if, at the start of the year we were hoping for a different result,' admits Rivola. 'As I said before, at Ferrari, our racing DNA means we don't really need any extra motivation to try our best. The most important thing, as we come to the end of the season, is to prove to all our fans that we never give up.' On the subject of fans, as has always been the case in the USA, the Scuderia can count on plenty of support in Austin, when Formula 1 returns there for a second time this weekend. 'I had missed racing in the USA and still remember the first time we went to Indianapolis in 2000,' recalls Rivola. 'The way the American crowd lives the event and their enthusiasm is such that I remember it was almost impossible to hear the F1 engines above the noise of the crowd.' In fact, Rivola feels Formula 1 could learn some lessons from the way Americans handle their homegrown racing series such as Nascar. 'Formula 1 is perhaps more geared to the TV audience, while in America they have much closer contact with the race fans, making the paddock more open and the cars and drivers more accessible to the fans and, to be honest, I like that culture which brings Formula 1 back to the people, so I hope this race in America continues to be a success and maybe we can eventually even have two Grands Prix in the USA.'