New team boss still thinks it's realistic, however; Italian also protests loss of paddock access by sitting in grandstand at Circuit de Catalunya
Sunday 1 March 2015 14:57, UK
Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene is sticking with his target of two race wins this season, even though Mercedes continue to suggest they’ll pick up exactly where they left off once the new F1 season starts.
The defending world champions appear to be in even more formidable shape this season than last if pre-season testing is anything to go by. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg top the mileage charts and the fact they’ve let others grab the headline times more often than not suggests a real confidence ahead of Melbourne’s season opener on March 15.
Even so, the good news for Ferrari is that they appear to have taken a step forward after last year’s mediocre performance. Whether that places them ahead of the likes of Red Bull and Williams remains to be seen, but Arrivabene still thinks Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen can be best-placed to pick up the pieces.
“I think it is ambitious, but realistic,” he said in Barcelona on Sunday. “You need to be near to [Mercedes], I am not going to wish them bad luck, but you never know. The most important thing is to be there; so I think the target is ambitious, but not really unrealistic.”
Arrivabene might not have lowered his expectations over the past few days but he does have a fresh perspective – literally so, in fact, after he and senior Ferrari personnel opted to spend time sitting amongst fans at the Circuit de Catalunya.
The 57-year-old, who took over from Marco Mattiacci at the end of last season, said he decided to watch the action from the grandstand as a “provocation” to Bernie Ecclestone, after Ferrari’s quota of paddock passes was cut.
“I heard that in Australia they’ve applied more restrictions in terms of passes,” he explained. “And I think this is not acceptable. So I said to the guys, ‘Okay, if we’re in a situation where the paddock is going to be empty, it’s better to start training to go to the people and we sit in the grandstand’.
“It was a good experience and I hope to have other experiences like this.”
Meanwhile, Arrivabene stressed Ferrari’s desire for a full grid of two-car teams, adding that third cars should only be used as a last resort.
Three-car teams became a big talking point after the withdrawals of Caterham and Marussia towards the end of last season, although the latter outfit hope to make the Melbourne grid after securing new backing.
If Marussia – now known as Manor Marussia – are to realise their aim then 20 cars could start the Australian GP. Ferrari have said they’ll continue to supply power units and ahead of a partnership with the new Haas outfit in 2016, their actions appear to back Arrivabene’s words.
“If you are constrained to use a third car, of course, you have to do it,” he added. “But this is not our final goal. Our final goal is to attract other constructors, to attract other teams and to have a grid that is going to be – I don’t want to say competitive by definition – but with as much teams as we can.
“Of course, we need to do something in case the teams are not going to be enough, but this is not the solution. The solution is to be able to attract more teams, more constructors.”
