FERRARI HAS FAILED TO HIT ITS 2016 TARGETS

Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne says the team has fallen short of its targets this season and will be immediately switching resources towards its 2017 attack.

The Scuderia had enjoyed an upswing in form last season, with Sebastian Vettel taking three grand prix wins. But this year it has fallen off the pace of its rivals and has yet to take a single win from the 14 races this year.

Last weekend at Monza both Vettel and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen finished well adrift of the works Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.

Marchionne said: “We failed [to hit] the targets, I don’t think there’s a doubt in my mind. It’s no use putting sweeteners on stuff, the car isn’t there and I don’t think we developed it.

“We started well in Australia and I think that we failed in developing the car during the season, due to a variety of reasons. Three wins in 2015 meant we were perhaps a little too optimistic about 2016. The others improved a lot during the season and we stayed still. Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of the season left.”

Marchionne added that he was pleased with the team dynamic at the remodelled squad. Ferrari changed much of its technical staff before the start of 2015, with Maurizio Arrivabene taking the team manager role. More recently Briton James Allison has resigned from the team as technical director, with power unit director Mattia Binotto replacing him.

“I feel quite comfortable this team are capable of turning the fate of the Scuderia around,” added Marchionne. “In terms of the changes we’ve made to the car, I feel a lot more comfortable than I did in the past.

“We have huge talent inside this structure as it is so we aren’t looking for the great hero to come in and turn this thing around.”