Maurizio Arrivabene Q&A: Ferrari on an upward trend

Ferrari may not have won at Monza, but team principal Maurizio Arrivabene believes the Prancing Horse showed enough at their home race to suggest the Scuderia will be a key force in the championship run-in…

Q: Maurizio, Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne was here for the race. What did he say about the state of Ferrari?

Maurizio Arrivabene: Well, I try to repeat what he said! He said that he sees the changes in the team. But of course things don’t come together overnight and a bit more patience is what is required. The structure of the team is good and solid. There are enough people in Ferrari able to work at the top of the sport. But of course he is not happy with the results so far. He is really looking forward to next season.

Q: But wasn’t it also Mr Marchionne who said that you failed your targets this season? Would you agree and what does that mean?

MA: Of course we had hoped for more so far - and we’ve taken some action and my guess is that for the last races we should be on an upward trend. The spirit in the team is good and everybody is looking in the same direction. We will take every single race at a time. That is all we can do.

Q: How satisfied was he with today’s result? What was the idea behind using the soft tyres for the last stint?

MA: I was hearing after the race some comments about one stop being the worst strategy - and I was laughing together with our engineers when I heard that. Because with one stop you would have to take yourself back at some point in the race - and we’ve been totally the opposite. We’ve been aggressive! So everybody can make his own thoughts about our race strategy.

Q: It is always a difficult balance between on-going development and designing and building a new car for completely new regulations. For the time being you also have to understand where you need to improve to finish at least in P2, where Red Bull Racing are sitting right now. How are you handling that?

MA: We are in Monza - and you see what is going on here. That massive support of the fans! If you work for a team like Ferrari you can’t give up. This is our DNA - but it is also pressure. So we will never give up on this season! Of course next year is important and we have a huge amount of focus on that - but it is the responsibility of each and every person in the team to do our best to be successful. We will never stop fighting - and we will do everything to find the right balance between what we want to achieve in 2016 and what in 2017.