Ferrari Christmas, a time to look ahead
Posted: 19.12.2016 / Source: Ferrari
President Marchionne: “The team is giving its all”
Maranello, 19 December – “The team is giving its all and has a great will to win.” The words of President Sergio Marchionne rang out in determined fashion in the room that hosted the usual Christmastime meeting with the press. “We have restructured and I prefer to look to the future in a different way. I don’t regret the choices made, they were well thought out, so there’s no need to change ideas.” At the end of a season that was far from easy, the bosses at the Scuderia are, above all, thinking and looking to the year to come. “There are still many things missing,” added the President, “but the team is the team and it was put in place over a period of years and we’re not about to change it now. Our working practice is already different to what it was back in August, which is when Mattia Binotto took over the reins. The organizational change was also partly made to bring some calm. Put in the work and the results will come.”
Team Principal, Maurizio Arrivabene echoed the President’s sentiments. He thanked the Prancing Horse fans – “you have been very patient and we will do our utmost not to disappoint you” – and in replying to questions from the journalists, he immediately dismissed those who would describe Sebastian Vettel as being “demotivated.” “With Vettel and Raikkonen we have two world champions on our books. Sebastian was here yesterday, working in the simulator and he repeated the fact that he wants to win with Ferrari. It’s up to us to give them a car capable of doing that.”
And on the topic of that 2017 car, which will be officially launched on 24th February, it was the turn of the Scuderia’s Chief Technical Officer, Mattia Binotto to say a few words. “There are so many changes to the rules relating to aerodynamics. We will see cars that are much quicker through the corners, under acceleration and in braking. There is nothing to say that we here in Maranello cannot build such a car…It’s just a matter of time. What we lacked on occasions this year was the ability to react quickly. We must be able to introduce new solutions before the others do.”
And with that goal, the work does not stop, not even during the holiday period.
