Thursday was a very important day for Ferrari when the men and women from the Scuderia met at the Logistics department to reflect together a few days before the start of the Formula One Championship gets underway in Bahrain.

They were greeted by Chairman Luca di Montezemolo, who wanted to be present with the team’s new driver for the upcoming 2010 season, double world champion Fernando Alonso, who has been working with the simulator in Maranello both yesterday and today.

"We have a difficult season behind us and we have a season with strong competitors ahead of us, with many unknown factors,” Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali said. "We’ve worked a lot during the winter and I want to thank you for what you have done: at the end of the last Championship we were really behind, now, after the tests in February, we can say that we picked up a lot. We’re in the top group, but not yet amongst the best.”

“This has to be a stimulus, because we need to develop race after race, this will be the 2010 Championship, but also the reliability will be important. The fact that we were the team with the most kilometres confirms how well we worked, but we can’t stop paying attention. We have to know out potential and our strength, because we have people, resources and structures, which can keep up with everybody else. During the tests we’ve shown what we can do and now we have to continue to train."

Fernando Alonso, who was received with a standing ovation, was moved by the atmosphere and thanked everyone for their support and explained that there is just one goal, to win...

"I want to thank you all for what you have done for this new Formula 1 Ferrari. I already told it to the newspapers but I want to tell you personally: this is the best car I’ve ever driven. This doesn’t mean that it will be enough to win every single race, but I’m happy about how the tests went and I think that we’re at 100% for the first race in Bahrain.”

“We are Ferrari and we know from our history that we have only one goal: winning the Championship. And I know that thanks to your work we can do it. We know that the first race is like the first stage at the Tour de France: what counts is winning. Felipe and I are extremely motivated and we’ll give it our all to show that we merit the opportunity to drive a car like Ferrari.”