With the performance from Scuderia Ferrari during the 2016 Formula 1 season, Sergio Marchionne learned a valuable lesson.
The Maranello-based outfit failed to continue their strong performance from 2015, where they finished second in the standings behind Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, into last season with their results falling short of its expectations. Their performance dropped so much that they were relegated to third behind Red Bull Racing, with the team failing to win a Grand Prix.
The performance produced by the team was far from the predictions made by Marchionne, he felt the team would play its part as title contender, a claim made weeks prior to the start of the season. Next week, Ferrari will launch its 2017 challenger at their private Fiorano test circuit, three days before the teams gather in Barcelona for the pre-season testing.
Marchionne admits he looked “silly” at the end of last season, he also confirms the problems have now been corrected.
“Intellectual honesty is important but I have to admit that I looked silly,” Marchionne admitted to Finnish newspaper Iltalehti.
“Clearly, there were problems with the flow of information, but the matter has since been corrected. If an employee tells me that our car is four seconds faster than the last one, I have no choice but to believe him.”
With Marchionne learning the hard way last year, he has chosen not to make any public comments or predictions regarding the performance of Ferrari for this season.
