Tag Archives: Ferrari

June 11, 2016 · 9:38 pm

Sebastian Vettel: “Overall I think we have a great car”

Sebastian Vettel professed himself pleased with qualifying third in Canada despite just missing out on beating the Mercedes drivers.

Against expectations Vettel was only a tenth of a second off the Mercedes pace when it mattered in Q3.

“I think going into qualifying I thought it was possible,” he said. “As a driver you always feel that there’s a little bit more. I think on my last lap I was very happy with the lap in general, I was maybe a bit greedy out of ten and maybe not greedy enough into turn six, but there wasn’t an awful lot to grab otherwise, as I said, very happy.

“I wanted to get below the 1m13s mark because then I knew it would be very close with the Mercedes. I did that but just by one hundredth so a little bit was missing, but overall I think we have a great car, we did a step, so I’m happy with how the weekend has turned out. We did a step or so overnight so I felt in general very comfortable and enjoyed qualifying a lot. I brushed the Wall of Champions so done that, don’t have to do that tomorrow, so we should be all set.”

Regarding Ferrari’s turbo upgrade for this race he said: “I think we expected to bring performance to the car and that’s what it did. I think this is probably a track where it’s quite important. There are a lot of straights so yeah, I think that’s why we decided to bring it here as well and as I said, it worked and it should help us also tomorrow, not just today.”

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April 29, 2016 · 4:14 pm

Vettel to take gearbox grid penalty in Sochi

Sebastian Vettel’s chances of taking on Mercedes in Sochi have been dealt a blow after he has been forced to take a new gearbox and thus a five-place grid penalty.

Ferrari thought that there might be problems after the collision with Kimi Raikkonen in China, and ran the gearbox today to check it out. The data confirmed that a change was necessary for Saturday.

Meanwhile Vettel was forced to pull off and park on the pit straight in FP2 today after he was hit by an electrical issue that prevented him from running for the balance of the session while the crew worked on the car.

“It looks like we had an electronic problem,” said Vettel after the session. “It’s a bit of a shame because we’re lacking a couple of laps, especially in the long runs and race trim, to see how competitive we are. I think that Kimi did homework for the team, so not too bad. Also I think here we know roughly what to expect. I think we can still learn a lot from what other people did.”

Regarding the Italian team’s prospects for the weekend he said: “Difficult to say. The balance isn’t yet where I wanted it to be, but I think we can improve. Naturally I think the circuit should come our way. It was quite slippery this morning, I spun the first two laps. I didn’t spin this afternoon, that’s already a massive improvement!

“I felt happier as the day continued. Obviously we did some stuff for qualifying. For the race we’re lacking a bit information, but it shouldn’t be too bad. So let’s see tomorrow morning, we still have another practice session.”

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April 3, 2016 · 9:04 am

Nico Rosberg: “It’s great if it’s a four-way battle with Ferrari”

Nico Rosberg is anticipating an exciting battle between Mercedes and Ferrari in the Bahrain GP – and the German stresses that the tyre rules mean that it will be hard to second guess exactly what his main rivals will do.

The use of three tyre compounds this year, plus the different allocations chosen by each team, has ensured that a variety of strategic permutations could work.

However this weekend it’s a little clearer at the front as the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers are all heading into the race with one new set of mediums, and two new sets of softs.

“It is going to be a tough one for sure,” he said when asked by this writer. “A lot can go on with the three different tyres, and all three will probably be used as well, for us in our case. It will for sure be an interesting race, strategy wise as well. And a lot of overtaking with different people in different situations with their tyres.”

Rosberg said that Mercedes wasn’t just eyeing Sebastian Vettel: “There’s Kimi as well, he had one of his greatest races here last year if I remember correctly, so for sure we’re keeping an eye on him. It’s great if it’s a four-way battle with Ferrari. That will be a great race, and there’s a very good chance that will be the case.”

The factor that may work against Ferrari is that Mercedes believes that the W07 benefited from cooler temperatures as qualifying went on, and that will also apply to the race.

“I think we got pretty good laps in at the end of Q3 as well, that’s part of it, and then temperatures dropping, getting a bit colder, maybe that was good for us. I’m not sure, it’s difficult to explain. It surprised us as well.”

Regarding Hamilton’s extra pace in qualifying he said: “Lewis did his homework very well.”

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March 21, 2016 · 12:05 pm

Maurizio Arrivabene: “We took a decision…”

Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene has defended the tyre decision that turned Sebastian Vettel’s lead into the Australian GP into a third place.

When teams had a free choice of tires at the red flag the Ferraris stuck with supersofts, while the two Mercedes drivers restarted with mediums. They didn’t need to stop again, and when Vettel pitted, he dropped back. He was unable to recover to higher than third.

“On the wall we were confident, in all honesty,” said Arrivabene. “So we were looking at the race. We looked at the gap we were gaining and at that time the radio was to go with our strategy and to keep going. Then, I don’t want to take any excuses. The red flag – the last one was in 2009 if I am not wrong, but it is part of the race so you have to accept it and that is it.

“At that stage of the race we have to be a bit more aggressive. It could be right, could be wrong. Sebastian was talking about that. In the end we were pushing like hell and Sebastian also had the chance to be able to overtake Hamilton, that was in our strategy. If you want to look at the glass not half empty – we were there. But this is the news. Of course after that, you cannot be happy after this but this is racing.”

Nevertheless he admitted it was a race lost: “Yeah. We lost… the race if you look, it is in front of everybody that we were showing a very, very good pace. We were quite comfortable and after the red flag, we took a decision. A certain decision that can be right or wrong. But…”

He remains optimistic about the season.

“The pace in the race is very good. The car is very good. So, this is what I have to say. But we don’t have to give up. We need to continue to push because every race has their own story. You have to turn the page and look forward and think about the next one thinking to do not what you have done today but to do even better for Bahrain.

“The start was super. I have to say both of the drivers, they start like two rockets and after that they were able to take an advantage, and that was good for us. This is the reason why at a certain point we were looking at the gap, looking at our strategy prediction and looking quite comfortable. But at the end of the day you have to look at the result of the race, not the provision. We have to be realistic.”

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February 19, 2016 · 2:10 pm

Ferrari targets title challenge with new SF16-H

Ferrari F16-H

Ferrari unveiled its new car in an online launch today amid much optimism in the Maranello camp about the season ahead.

Dubbed the SF16-H, the car features more white in its livery than in recent years, harking back to the golden years of the mid-70s.

The car is very different from its predecessor, and notably after four years with pullrod front suspension, Ferrari has gone back to pushrod.

Team boss Maurizio Arrivabene made it clear that the team has to be in the fight for the World Championship this year.

“Normally I’m not setting the objective, it’s my boss who sets the objective,” said Arrivabene. “Last year the objective was three victories, we got it. I think this year we need to push a bit more, so it’s going to be the championship.

“At least we would like to fight until the end for the championship. I know it’s nit going to be easy because our competitors they are not sleeping at all. For sure we are all committed to do our best.”

Technical director James Allison said of the car: “I have to say looking at it today I feel very, very happy and extremely proud of all the people here at Maranello, and I can’t wait to take it racing.”Ferrari F16-H

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December 17, 2015 · 10:11 am

Sainz expects rivals to progress in 2016

Carlos Sainz Jr says he was relieved that Scuderia Toro Rosso was finally able to confirm its Ferrari deal – but the Spaniard is concerned that the team could be left behind as others develop their newer engines over the course of the season.

Sainz says that at one stage he was worried about the team’s future after doubts were expressed about Red Bull’s commitment to F1.

“They were very small thoughts,” he told this writer. “Honestly I always had a lot of trust, a lot of belief, that the thing was going to be solved really soon – even though it wasn’t very soon, but soon enough!

“I am relieved that now we have a solid platform to work on next year. I think it will be a step forward. Having a full Italian team will also help, I think there will be good relationships – from what I know they really enjoyed the time when Ferrari was there. I think everything is very positive for next year.”

The downside is that STR’s 2015-spec engines are likely to be unchanged over the course of the season, while all the other manufacturers will be making steps as they use their tokens. Sainz says that the team knows it has to make the most of the early races.

“This is the main thing, that probably the first half of the season will be the most important for us, when we need to maximise what we have. The second half will be a bit more difficult, obviously. Especially after looking at this year, there was a lot of in-season development.

“Also we noticed with Renault that we had the same power for the full season. Toro Rosso at the beginning of the season was up there, and then little by little we went backwards. So it will be all about maximising the first half, I think.”

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December 15, 2015 · 4:21 pm

Ferrari not involved in Hoyle spy case, says Mercedes

Mercedes has formally confirmed that Ferrari is not involved in the ongoing spy investigation into departing engineer Ben Hoyle.

When Mercedes launched legal action against Hoyle the company understood that he would be heading to Maranello. However, as previously reported the Italian team denied that Hoyle would be joining.

In a website statement today Mercedes has sought to clarify the situation and stressed that Ferrari is not part of the story.

The statement said: “There are on-going internal investigations, regarding confidential information being removed from Mercedes by Mr Hoyle, in order to protect against potential damage to both Mercedes and any company which could potentially receive such information.

“Mercedes will continue with these investigations until it can conclude that all the confidential information is recovered, which is anticipated to take a further 2-4 months.”

Regarding Ferrari’s involvement the statement added: “The investigation has shown no reason to believe that information has been transferred to Ferrari, nor have any of the court documents made any allegation regarding any inappropriate conduct by Ferrari.

“Mercedes will continue to protect its interests, including carrying on the legal proceedings against Mr Hoyle, and continue to protect against potential inappropriate transfer of confidential information within the motorsport industry.”

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November 16, 2015 · 4:45 pm

Toto Wolff: “Ferrari will be a very important competitor…”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff acknowledges that Ferrari is catching Mercedes after Sebastian Vettel kept in touch with the pacesetters in Brazil.

The German finished just 14secs behind winner Nico Rosberg, and 6secs behind Lewis Hamilton. It was his 13th visit to the podium in 2015.

“I am anticipating a robust challenge from Ferrari because they have done some clever moves,” said Wolff. “And they have definitely caught up. You can see that even towards the end of the race today Sebastian was not very far away, when Lewis and Nico were pushing flat out biggest gap was seven seconds. That is not a clear-cut dominant race win. I think we will have a situation where Ferrari will be a very important competitor.

After a relatively low-key race in Brazil Wolff was asked if the sport needed a further step from Ferrari to improve next year’s show he said: “I think we are not relying on it. We wouldn’t want to rely on it! What you can see again with aerodynamic efficient cars, it is very difficult to follow. You destroy your tyres and when you destroy your tyres by attacking and being close for a couple of laps you have no performance left in the tyres. It is nothing new.

“We have seen this the last decades, always the same. And in the race the top guys were running away at the front, there wasn’t any rain and not a lot of incidents in the race. It is like a good and a bad football match, and today we have probably seen one of the boring football matches.”

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October 23, 2015 · 1:57 pm

Sebastian Vettel: “I hope that next year is a big step…”

Sebastian Vettel says he’ll have a lot more input into next year’s Ferrari having joined the team too late last season to have much impact on the 2015 car.

Vettel is also optimistic about Ferrari’s future prospects, especially given the progress the team has made in the course of this season.

“A lot more,” he said when asked about his input for 2016. “You don’t join the team until you join the team. Obviously there were a lot of decisions that were already taken, some decisions were taken when I was there already.

“The season we’ve had so far has been phenomenal, if you think firstly about where the team was last year. Second the situation that we faced at the very beginning, a lot of new people, people were changing positions within the factory. It’s not that easy all those things to digest for a team, but it has been great, and really strong getting the team together. I’m quite confident, and I hope that next year is a big step.”

Asked what changes he wanted to see he added: “I don’t really want to tell! If you look just at the organisation there’s been a lot of work going in trying to get the team together. There’s a lot of new people, people change their position within the company. Usually those things take time, just so that everybody understands what to do, getting everything right in terms of timing as well, that has been the main challenge this year for the while team.

“Also I was new at the beginning, so that people understand my language, when I talk about the car, the behaviour of the car, the weaknesses. So I think there’s a possibility for us to improve. Obviously we’ve done a massive step on the engine, that’s ongoing.

“At the end we want to have the best engine and the best car, so there’s plenty of stuff to do. It’s no secret that we need a little bit more downforce than we currently have, but it’s more the organisation behind it.”

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October 11, 2015 · 6:17 pm

Kimi Raikkonen: “I don’t think it was something completely stupid…”

Kimi Raikkonen was demoted from fifth to eighth place in the Russian GP results after being penalised for causing a collision with Valtteri Bottas.

The two Finns collided while battling for third on the last lap. Raikkonen managed to crawl across the line in fifth, but was subsequently given a 30 second penalty, and three points on his licence.

His demotion also meant that Ferrari was finally out of mathematical contention for the constructors’ title, leaving Mercedes confirmed as champions.

“I went inside and I think he never realised that I was there,” said Raikkonen. “Obviously at the last point I knew that he was just turning in so I tried to go more inside and I had brake harder to try to avoid it, but I was next to him already, so obviously there was contact.

“I don’t think it was something completely stupid. I want to try, for sure I would have made the corner, but obviously there were two cars. There are many ways of looking at the incident. I was there but obviously he didn’t know that I was there, and then you will have a contact. Unfortunate thing, not just for us for them also. You never want to have accidents, but things happen.”

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