Having enjoyed plenty of success with Ferrari and McLaren through the years, Ascanelli has now helped guide his small Faenza outfit from backmarkers to the front of the grid.
Autosport.com caught up with the popular Italian after qualifying at Monza to find out his feelings on the day's events, the progress of his team and how some advice from Enzo Ferrari has never been forgotten.
Q. You have had a lot of pole positions in your career at Ferrari and McLaren, How does this one compare?
Q. But it's not a total fluke. This team has been quickest in a qualifying session at the last three races, the points have been coming...
GA: It is true that the team is growing – and more than anything else all the lads have been starting believe it. So self-consciousness is probably the secret. I don't think that three consecutive events are a trend. In Valencia we were blessed by the lack of experience, which everyone had. So for the first time this season we all had the same conditions.
Q. In Spa, again, it is a place where Sebastien Bourdais won the 24 Hours and Vettel knows it. So it helped.
GA:>Here, I think we have got a good engine, we have got very good brakes and I think we have got a good car. And the wet has been a blessing!
Q. Is it an historic day for the team?
GA: Well yes, I think so. I think that everyone in the team should be proud of what they have achieved.
Q. How much has this team changed since you arrived?
GA: Ask the others! I don't know, I can't say. I started here, and I started working. And that is it.
Q. Well, how much have you had to do? How much have you pointed, and pushed and changed things?
GA: Every minute of my life! I wake up at 5.45am and I go to bed at midnight every day.
Q. Fernando Alonso has said he believes Toro Rosso are now the third quickest team in Formula One, and may be for the rest of the season?
GA: I am not sure if it will be like this until the end of the season. In reality I would not expect it to be so. I would not expect to be in such a good position in Singapore, but certainly here we were the third team. No question.
Q. Are you doing better now than you imagined you would in the build-up to the year?
GA: No. I said at the beginning of the season that our task is to finish in the points ranking right behind Red Bull Racing, and we haven't done that yet. So, we have to try and do it.
Q. Why have you been able to find the sweet spot with this car in recent races better than Red Bull Racing?
GA: Do you think we can say that?
Q. Well, you appear to be.
GA: Well, as I said, Valencia was an unknown circuit and I think experience counts for something. And Spa, again, it was climatic conditions changing. I think I am very conscious that every part we change on the car changes the character of it, and drivers do need to get used to it. So, I am extremely careful in not changing the character of the car until they get used to it.
Q. You are a team that appears very tuned in to reacting to racing events, rather than sitting at computer screens crunching numbers to find something.
GA: We use very much technology, but at the end of the day, and this may be my small contribution - we don't believe our models 100 percent. And a model remains that.
Enzo Ferrari taught me that in this work, you judge with your eyes, your ears and your nose. With all your senses. And I keep doing that.
Q. Tomorrow, what's achievable?
GA: I would be glad just to get in the points. I think most will depend on the climatic conditions and the levels of fuel – and we are lighter than most. That is for sure. The pole position does not come just because we are clever, we are obviously light.
I have to say it is going to be a difficult race. I do not fear the dry conditions that are expected and fuel on board will play an issue. Clearly we are on the light side but we will see how we can manage it, if we can go away or we stay with the pack. Let's see.
Q. And Sebastian Vettel's contribution to this result?
GA: Excellent, fantastic.
Q. Are you surprised by him today?
GA: No, I think I was surprised in Valencia on Saturday. It was the first time that I thought he was really special. The pole in Q2 in Valencia was special, and I think he realised that in P2 we were at the back of the grid, we had an incredible amount of fuel in the car and he did a fantastic lap, and I asked him if he had realised what he had done. He said yes, so I asked him to do it again. And he did. That is the point.
Q. Did Valencia instill a belief in the team that you had made a step forward?
GA: If you start getting results then everyone will start believing it. On the Monday after Spa I came back home, and I said to the guys, 'you are the same guys that I found here when I came. We have become stronger. And look at what you have done – you can do it. The limits you have are the limits you give yourself. If you believe it, you can try and you can do it.
Q. It is quite fitting too that this team's first pole position is at Monza too, isn't it?
GA: Monza has been good to me in my life. In 1987 I made my debut, in 1988 I won my first Italian Grand Prix. I even found my wife near Monza!
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