Category: Ferrari

Ferrari can consider themselves to be one of the teams that had a successful winter’s work in Barcelona during testing.

Both Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel set the two quickest times around the Circuit De Catalunya, and they’ve done enough to have the Mercedes camp worried.

It’s not just on outright pace, where Ferrari were clearly holding back, that the Prancing Horse were competitive.

The Scuderia completed almost 1,000 laps and along with Mercedes were the only team to complete Grand Prix distance runs on multiple occasions.

It is important not to take testing as gospel, despite Lewis Hamilton’s best attempts to make Ferrari favourites after an intriguing pre-season.

After a solid 2015, Ferrari were predicted to take 2016 by storm but as the season wore on it became clear that they were flattering to deceive, with strategic errors in Australia and Canada and failure to develop the car as the season wore on.

After himself having a tumultuous season last year, Vettel wasn’t quick to point out that the Barcelona form guide is only a vague one.

“It’s impossible to predict anything,” he told Sports Bild. “Even the tests in Barcelona only give a basic idea where you stand.

“It is only in the first race that you will know how well you and the others have worked over the winter. We’ll only get real clarity after three or four races.”

Despite his caution, Vettel still that a title at Ferrari is still in the question, after his predecessor Fernando Alonso left after he lost confidence in the Maranello squad.

“If not, I wouldn’t go to the start grid.

“All I can say is that the spirit in the team is good, everyone is working for everyone else’s benefit.”

Raikkonen, who won the 2007 World Championship with Ferrari, believes that the team have made a step forward compared to last year.

“There are a few small issues but if we look a year ago, we are in a much stronger position. The car is reliable and we have to be positive with how we have gone forward as a team.”

Jack Prentice @JPrentice8

Ferrari had what can best be described as a mixed Malaysian Grand Prix as Kimi Raikkonen took a solid fourth place while Sebastian Vettel failed to make it to turn four of the opening lap.

Vettel made an optimistic turn one move that saw the four-time World Champion clatter into the side of Nico Rosberg, who ultimately finished third after a bold move on Raikkonen late in the race.

The German retired with a broken front left suspension as a result of that contact, and thought it was a “racing incident”, although the stewards found otherwise and handed him a three-place grid penalty for the Japanese Grand Prix. The one upside for Ferrari is that at least it wasn’t their error once again, with missed opportunities the story of their season so far.

Rosberg was handed a ten-second penalty for his move on Raikkonen, but even then it wasn’t enough for the ailing Ferrari to get back on the podium and so Ferrari failed to pull off anything like the victory of 2015 at Sepang.

Raikkonen climbs to fourth in the standings following Vettel’s DNF, but Red Bull struck a near fatal blow to the Prancing Horse’s hopes of retaining second in the Constructors Championship with a 1-2 led by Daniel Ricciardo.

This weekend, Formula One moves onto the Japanese Grand Prix, with the two weekends sandwiching the anniversary of the tragic accident of Jules Bianchi, who Ricciardo dedicated his win to after the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Suzuka isn’t a track that has won recent favour with Ferrari despite the clinching of the 2000 and 2003 World Drivers’ Championships for the great Michael Schumacher. Ferrari haven’t won anywhere in Japan since 2004.

Despite Raikkonen’s memorable win there for McLaren in 2005, where he started 17th and sealed victory with a last pass around the outside of the 150mph turn one, and Vettel’s four victories from 2009-13 (Punctuated only by Jenson Button in 2011) it doesn’t look like changing in 2016 as the fast flowing corners suit the Red Bull and Mercedes far better.

Mixed conditions are once again forecast for this weekend, and that is perhaps the only chance Ferrari have of winning a Grand Prix this season and keeping the fight alive for second in the Constructors’ Championship.

Jack Prentice

For Ferrari, the Italian Grand Prix was one of the few races this season in which they have maximised their potential.

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished in third and fourth in Monza, although an excellent start had seen them running second and third as polesitter Lewis Hamilton reversed down the field in the opening metres.

Ferrari once again took a different strategy to the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who are separated by two points at the top of the standings, as the Prancing Horse opted for a two-stop strategy while the Silver Arrows opted for a one-stopper.

In truth, Ferrari would have been powerless to stop Hamilton’s damage limitation mission whatever strategy they were on, such was the dominance of Mercedes all weekend.

Ferrari’s big boss Sergio Marchionne has labelled an error-strewn season as a failure, with Maranello squad unable to build on a strong 2015 showing that saw Vettel chalk up three wins and in parts look like challenging Mercedes.

He won’t have used that adjective based on races such as these, where an unspectacular performance belied what was a solid result given the drop in relative pace and off track turbulence.

Marchionne will have been referencing the race race-costing calamities in Australia and Canada and failure to deal with the rise of Red Bull.

Red Bull still have an upper hand in the Constructors’ Championship despite Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen only finishing sixth and seventh on a track they expected to struggle at.

They believe they’ll be stronger at the next round in Singapore, where Vettel dominated last year to take one of those three victories as Mercedes toiled.

How Ferrari could do with a repeat of their 2015 Singapore success this time around.

Image courtesy of Scuderia Performante

Jack Prentice @JPrentice8