Maybe it’s because my job means I spend my life at full throttle but I just can’t understand why so many people have such short memories…

It’s easy to sit there on the sofa, beer in hand, gabbing about the Ferrari single-seater and how it can’t and won’t deliver what Alonso needs. I’ve spent a lifetime in engines and what I remember of racing is what some of those people have clearly forgotten: the experiences of the big international car giants like Toyota, BMW and even Mercedes today, prove just how difficult Formula 1 is to get right. In fact, both Toyota and BMW eventually threw in the towel and gave up in frustration.

So how can anybody criticise a constructor whose driver is still in the running for the title two grands prix from the end of the season? Only one man can win but that’s the beauty of the sport. Watching that extraordinary race last Sunday was beautiful even though realising it would mean just three extra points did give me a bit of a headache.

But are three points small fry? Maybe if you consider that Fernando getting eliminated at Spa and Suzuka on the first bend cost us a lot more. Take it from me, if those two incidents hadn’t happened, Fernando would be well out in the lead. But that’s motor racing for you and people love Ferrari because it knows both how to win and how to lose. So let’s leave the armchair critics to their sofas, because we here in Maranello, keep the pistons going day and night.