Madonna di Campiglio, 13 January –Under skies lit up by an amazing firework display, the race on the frozen lake brought the week of Wrooom to its usual end on the slopes of Madonna di Campiglio. Tonight in fact, the curtain comes down on the early season meeting which for over twenty years has been held in this resort in the Dolomites, bringing together the Ferrari and Ducati teams and the specialist media from the worlds of Formula 1 and MotoGP. The ice race was certainly spectacular with the drivers and riders from both teams tackling the challenge first in go-karts and then in Fiat 500s. There was a special pace car too, with the Maranello marque’s Vice President, Piero Ferrari, at the wheel of an FF. Coming out on top in the first race was Valentino Rossi, crossing the line ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. Next across the line were Giancarlo Fisichella and Marc Gene, two drivers on the books at Scuderia Ferrari to work on car development. Bringing up the rear was Rossi’s inseparable friend Alessio Salucci, standing in for the indisposed Ducati rider Nicky Hayden and this was the order then used for the grid for the second race. Massa won the battle of the Fiat 500s, pulling off an incredible passing move on Rossi just a few laps from the end. Alonso was again third, with Gene and Fisichella swapping places this time.

Madonna di Campiglio, 13 January –There was a special debut to mark the fifth and final day of the 22nd running of Wrooom, the event that gets the Scuderia Ferrari race season underway. Yesterday afternoon, Piero Ferrari arrived in the Dolomite tourist resort and today he met the media in the Chalet Fiat.

“I am very happy to be here: it’s the first time I have attended this event and first of all, I want to thank Maurizio Arrivabene and Philip Morris for bringing together the team here on the slopes of Madonna di Campiglio,” said the Maranello company’s Vice President to the journalists. “Usually we seen one another at the race tracks or in some or other official press conference, but it’s a pleasure to be able to do it in this different environment.”

The chat was wide ranging but Formula 1 was obviously the top topic. Asked if it had now been too long since the Scuderia last won, Ferrari replied: “it’s not actually that long ago since we won: the last time we took the Drivers’ title goes back to 2007 and in 2008 and 2010 we came very close. We have gone through much longer periods of abstinence and much worse times, so I think that this question would be better addressed to someone who is in more of a hurry to see results come and with less patience than myself, who has seen so many in my life.

“It’s a pleasure for me to be here close to the team and its boss Stefano Domenicali and of course our President, Luca di Montezemolo: I don’t have any influence on the decisions they take, but there is just a great friendship between us because racing is my passion. The future of Formula 1? First of all, I hope that it maintains the right balance between the number of races outside Europe and those held in the Old Continent itself: on the one hand, we must not forget this is a global sport, but on the other we must protect its historic birthplace with certain Grands Prix such as the one in France or the races at Silverstone, Spa and Monza, where we always witness some fantastic racing.”

“I am pleased to see that our drivers get on so well and these opportunities to spend time together away from the workplace are very nice,” continued Ferrari. “I have been able to have dinner with them several times when I am in Maranello and I always come away from these moments with happy memories: we talk about pretty much anything in a very open way. I think that today there are many good drivers, two or three who can be described as exceptional and one of them, Fernando, is one of us. We also have Felipe who is a great guy, held in great affection at Ferrari, who has shown that, even alongside an extraordinary driver like Schumacher, with a good car, he too can also be very quick: it is up to us to create the right conditions and maybe we owe him something.”

The topic also came up of the “Museo Casa Natale di Enzo Ferrari,” a museum being created at the birthplace of the company founder. “Work is progressing and the opening will be held on 10 March,” he explained. “We will thus have two sites: in Modena, a museum relating to the birth and early life of my father as a driver and team manager, while Maranello has the Museo which tells the story of the company, which actually started there from nothing and which today is famous all around the world.” Switching from four wheels to two, Piero Ferrari talked about his great passion for motorcycle racing: “Ducati is always in my heart and the tie up with Valentino keeps me glued to the television right from the first free practice session to follow the track action. Furthermore, there is even a professional relationship through my engineering company which collaborates with the Borgo Panigale firm.”

Madonna di Campiglio, 12 January –Like all sportsmen, Fernando Alonso loves to win, but he does not see it as an obligation. “Sport is not just about winning, but also about sacrifice, teamwork, determination and passion,” said the Spaniard during this morning’s Wrooom press conference. “However, the final result depends on a lot of other factors and that’s why one cannot say that Ferrari has to win. What is a fact is that we have a great desire to do well and to return to the role of being the dominant team, which is what the Scuderia was at the beginning of this century.”

Fernando said he was not bothered by the fact that the title has continued to escape him since 2006. “I have a lot of years of racing ahead of me and I am only thirty years old. There are some 43 year olds still around and I think I still have room to improve. I don’t know what it might feel like to win a title with Ferrari, but from what I can tell from just winning some races, I can be sure it would be something special.”

Fernando wanted to spare a thought and give some encouragement to his great friend, Robert Kubica. “Robert is the best driver around and he will prove that when he returns to racing, something I am sure he will do. Him as my team-mate? I am very happy to have Felipe alongside me.”

Madonna di Campiglio, 12 January–The word team is one of the most frequently heard in Ferrari man Alonso’s vocabulary and today was no exception. “I have always stood up for the team, because when one is going through a difficult moment, as was the case last year, there is no point in blaming one another,” said the Spaniard. “We have made a few important changes but we know that making up ground will be neither easy nor the work of a moment. With the team and with Stefano Domenicali, I have always had a very open relationship right from the very first day. When it came to beginning to discuss an extension to the contract I was pleased with the way things were going between us and it seemed natural to renew it for many years.”

2011 was also not an easy year for another participant at Wrooom, namely Valentino Rossi: “it’s true that for both him and me the last season was not so great, even if we tried everything to redress the situation. We have to work, to improve and to have a better vehicle and both Ferrari and Ducati are working hard to achieve this: I really hope that 2012 can go better for both of us.”

Wrooom means snow, an environment that is now becoming familiar for Fernando. “Thanks to the ski instructors at Madonna di Campiglio I have improved my technique a lot on the downhills and I enjoyed myself much more than a few years ago. Skiing is a sport that allows you to go quickly, especially when there are not so many people on the pistes and you can cut some corners. Like all disciplineswhich involve speed, it also gives you a good rush of adrenalin. This event is a nice way to start the season, with a mix of work, sport and relaxation and maybe a few hands of poker with friends in the evening.”

Madonna di Campiglio, 12 January –There is nothing worse for a sportsman than to be prevented from using his talent on his field of play. Fernando Alonso stressed that emphatically this morning at the Wrooom press conference, when he was asked how useful was the work done in the simulator. “It’s an important tool but more than anything, it is a way of assessing some mechanisms,” explained Fernando. “How much a new technical component can deliver in terms of performance remains a question mark after being tried out only on the simulator. Formula 1 is one of the very few sports in which training is forbidden: you don’t ask a footballer or a tennis player to do nothing in between one match and another or for two months prior to a big tournament. Having a go in a kart helps because it is more like driving a single-seater, but it’s like telling Leo Messi to train with a little tennis ball or Raffa Nadal to play with a ping-pong bat…We go karting because we have no alternative.”