Mercedes a cut above the others
FERRARI HEAD: WE WANT ANSWERS, WE MUST CLOSE GAP
Vettel unable to rein in Rosberg and Hamilton.
Barcelona
Ferrari will be looking for answers in Formula One testing this week after champions Mercedes were more dominant than ever in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.
The race at the Circuit de Catalunya marked the start of the European season and Ferrari had hoped updates to their car might put them closer.
Instead, Mercedes took their third one-two in five starts with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finishing third, 45 seconds behind race winner Nico Rosberg.
Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said the team would use the test today and tomorrow at the Barcelona circuit to determine how much of the deficit could be attributed to the track characteristics and how much to the car.
“At the moment the numbers we have in terms of comparison are telling us that the solution is good. But the reality is telling us it’s not good enough,” he said.
“I said at the beginning of the year I don’t want to point the finger on aero, engine and all of this. Otherwise we are creating the usual mess where everybody is freaking out left, right, up and down.
“We need to calm down, look at the numbers and to take a decision. I promise you that if we are making a mistake we are going to tell you,” said the Italian.
Ferrari are firmly established as Mercedes’ closest rivals, with Vettel winning in Malaysia to deny them a clean sweep of victories and appearing on the podium four times so far.
However Arrivabene said a championship challenge looked too far away, even if he still believed Ferrari could win three races this year.
“I don’t really care about being on the podium,” he added. “Now every race weekend we are on the podium.
“But what I care about is the gap, because if we want to win two or three races we have to be able to be there. At the moment we are not.” – Reuters