Ferrari refuses to write off 2016 in favour of 2017 development head start
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has said the team will not switch focus to its 2017 car and will continue to develop its current car instead.
The team has yet to score a win in 2016 but has featured on the podium in seven of the first eight races.
Despite the raft of technical regulation changes for 2017, Arrivabene said it’s too early to concentrate solely on the new car.
“In this situation we have now, we have a gap from Mercedes but we are not that far from them,” he said.
“It is crazy to talk about next year, we need to focus on this year. We focus our attention on the areas where we have weaknesses and try to improve. That is what we are going to do.” Ferrari junior driver Charles Leclerc will take part in five first practice sessions this year for Haas, starting at next weekend’s British GP. The Monegasque is currently leading the GP3 points and was fourth in European F3 last year.