Share

Arrivabene: Ferrari can still challenge for F1 title

Monaco - Despite a nearly anonymous Monaco for the great Italian marque, Maurizio Arrivabene insists the world championship is still within Ferrari's grasp.

However, after a poor weekend at the Spanish GP , the red cars were once again behind not just Mercedes but also a resurgent Red Bull and even Sergio Perez's Force India on the streets of Monaco.

Ferrari not growing weak

But boss Arrivabene denied that Ferrari is increasingly weak in 2016.

Arrivabene said late on Sunday (May 29): "Only once have we not been on the podium, which is here. I don't want to go back over all the races, but we all know where and why we lost a lot of points and perhaps the chance of victory.

"At the same time I do not want to give excuses. In Barcelona, we were just not good enough in Q3, and this was repeated here and we paid for it again in the race."

Read: Frustrated Vettel - 'Ferrari should have done a better job'

Arrivabene said Ferrari's problem is not some sort of 'crisis' but a matter of working on the setup so the car is always in Pirelli's delicate tyre-operation "window".

So when asked if the world championship is slowly slipping away, he insisted: "No!

"My responsibilities are to keep the team concentrated and focused as there are still 15 races to go which is plenty of time. But we need to find the reasons for the problem in the final qualifying session."

No issues with Kimi

Finally, Arrivabene defended Kimi Raikkonen at the end of a bad weekend for the Finn, whose contract is up for renewal at the end of the season.

"Each driver has tracks he does not like, and Kimi does not like Monaco even if he has won here.

"I see no reason why I should complain about Kimi - on other tracks he is driving as good as before," he concluded.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()