It was not a race weekend to remember for the Scuderia Ferrari team in Monaco, after finishing behind Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo and the two Mercedes AMG PETRONAS runners of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in qualifying, and finishing off the podium during the race.
Ferrari Team Boss Maurizio Arrivabene was clear after the event, that they cannot afford to have another race weekend like this one.
“Today it was a very tricky race, and the outcome was partly compromised by our qualifying performance. An aggressive race strategy, with an early call for intermediate tires, was the only option we could take to gain positions, and it’s no use to complain about other drivers who hampered us on the track.
“If we had qualified better, the result would also had been better. Our car had a very good race pace but that’s not enough, as we must make sure that we stay competitive for the whole weekend.”
Having started the race from eleventh on the grid after receiving a five place grid penalty for a gearbox change, Kimi Raikkonen’s weekend went from bad to worse. Losing the SF16-H at the Loews hairpin and touching the barrier, which knocked the front wing underneath the Ferrari, the Finn was unable to continue and had to retire the car on lap ten, unintentionally hampering the race of Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean in the process.
Team-mate Sebastian Vettel meanwhile, finished in fourth place just off the podium, but found himself stuck behind the Sahara Force India of Sergio Perez for most of the race, unable to do anything to get past the Mexican try as he might, and despite putting in fastest laps towards the end part of the race.
Arrivabene is adamant the Maranello based squad will not put themselves in the same situation again, and hopes for big improvements in their performance in Canada.
“We now look forward to the next race in Canada where we don’t want to be caught out, as we want to be up to our name. The season is still very long, and it’s not in the DNA of Ferrari to surrender.
“Having said this, we must work hard to cure our weak spots, while improving further on all areas where we are strong already.”
