FERRARI PLEDGES TO FIGHT BACK
Italian firm floored by Mercedes-benz pace in its own backyard
Ferrari boss Sergio Marchionne insists his team will be back to fighting at the front in the Singapore Grand Prix after admitting the Scuderia “screwed up” at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
Having run Mercedes close at Spa two weeks ago, Ferrari slumped dramatically back in its home race at Monza, with Sebastian Vettel only managing a distant third place behind both Mercedes. His title rival Lewis Hamilton won to snatch away the points lead for the first time this season. Vettel now trails Hamilton by three points with seven races remaining. Both Ferraris struggled in the full wet conditions on Saturday, but Vettel managed to battle up from sixth place to finish third, but was 36s shy of Hamilton. His team-mate Kimi Raikkonen finished a minute behind the race-winning Silver Arrow. Vettel suggested after the race that he “couldn’t trust the car under braking” after a late steering issue. Company head Marchionne said his firm would fight back in Singapore. “I think we just screwed up,” he said. “The set-up for the car was wrong, I think we underestimated the circuit.
“We screwed up from Spa into here. Now, we need to go back to the factory and find out which way the car and the set-up went sideways.”
Mercedes itself has put Ferrari’s slump down to a blip, with team head Toto Wolff expecting a tight run-in with the battle for this year’s crown between Hamilton and Vettel.
“Emotions run high and when you have a bad day you can’t hide it,” said Wolff. “For me, it looks like this weekend Ferrari has made a step back somehow. We were very solid but they haven’t performed in the way that was expected.
“There’s just something out of synch here, something that’s just not how it should be. I can understand why they [Ferrari] are upset about it.”
Vettel added: “Today we weren’t as quick as Mercedes. It was not ideal but we are working very hard on what we want to achieve. The next tracks should be OK for us. Of course I wanted to win here, but I am confident that we are on the right way. Leading the championship is not as important as winning the championship, it’s where you are at that last race that counts. It is clear where we want to go, what we want to achieve.”