Ferrari has admitted it is entering the 2015 season on the back foot.<\/p>\n
The fabled Italian team has swept clean the figureheads of Ferrari’s disastrous start to the turbo V6 era, having pushed hard for the rule change but ending 2014 without a single win.<\/p>\n
Facing reporters on Monday, new bosses Sergio Marchionne and Maurizio Arrivabene admitted that reacting to Ferrari’s problems has even delayed the 2015 car.<\/p>\n
Marchionne said key “mistakes” were made in 2014, and one of them may have been appointing the inexperienced Marco Mattiacci as axed Stefano Domenicali’s successor.<\/p>\n
“I have enormous respect for what he has done for the company in the commercial area,” the new Ferrari president said, “but F1 is something else.<\/p>\n
“He was still learning the job but in the situation Ferrari was in, we could not rebuild the team waiting for the boss to gain experience,” Marchionne added.<\/p>\n
On the personnel front, the shakeup has been revolutionary.\u00a0 Ferrari confirmed on Monday that the latest arrival is an engineer who in 2014 helped Lewis Hamilton win the world championship — Jock Clear.<\/p>\n
The team is now negotiating with Mercedes for an early end to the Brackley veteran’s ‘gardening leave’ so that he can take over from the departed Pat Fry soon.<\/p>\n
Mattiaci’s successor Arrivabene, meanwhile, denied speculation Bob Bell, Adrian Newey or Ross Brawn will be the next high-profile arrivals at Maranello.<\/p>\n
“The team is there,” he insisted.\u00a0 “There is no great news to be announced, no surprises.\u00a0 We have to believe in the people we have.”<\/p>\n
But president Marchionne said that while the radical shakeup was taking place, the nuts and bolts of the design of the 2015 car were put behind schedule.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately,” he said, “god does not build racing cars.”<\/p>\n
He said “mistakes” were made in the basic foundations of the 2015 project, which is now essentially set as the car has passed all of the mandatory FIA crash tests.<\/p>\n
“The previous team leadership made strategic decisions that I disagreed with,” Marchionne is quoted by Italian publications.<\/p>\n
“Decisions relating to the car of 2014 and the preparation for 2015.\u00a0 For me, considering how we finished, how much we spent and where we are, in short, it was a mistake.<\/p>\n
“That is why we are now coming from behind because of choices made by other people.\u00a0 2015 will be a difficult year that will put a strain on the whole team,” La Repubblica quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n
So for Sebastian Vettel’s first season in red, expectations have been set historically low for F1’s most famous and arguably best-resourced team.<\/p>\n
“If we win two races, it would be a success,” said Arrivabene.\u00a0 “Three is a triumph.”<\/p>\n
And Marchionne quipped: “Four, we are in paradise.”<\/p>\n
\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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