Maurizio Arrivabene was full of praise for everyone within the Scuderia Ferrari team after they clinched their second victory in three races this year after Sebastian Vettel won the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Team Principal of the Maranello-based team said the result in Bahrain was made possible by the ‘courage’ and ‘determination’ of the team, coupled with a little bit of ‘madness’, which are all part of the DNA of the legendary team.
“Today’s victory was an important one, achieved thanks to the great efforts of all the guys at the track and back in Maranello,” said Arrivabene. “For the whole weekend, the team demonstrated courage, determination and a little bit of madness.
“This is all part of our DNA, characteristics which 70 years ago saw the birth of Ferrari. Courage and determination were needed to tackle a weekend like this, in which we expected to encounter a few difficulties in qualifying, which is why, based on good long run data on Friday, we prepared as well as possible for the race. In order to do this you also need to use some madness…”
Arrivabene felt that the SF70H showed itself to be a strong car again in Bahrain, and as a result the strategy call to pull Vettel into the pits early played dividends as he was able to clinch his second win in three races, although team-mate Kimi Raikkonen trailed home in fourth after a bad start.
“Sebastian drove a really great race, demonstrating once again all his class,” said Arrivabene. “Kimi was caught up in traffic at the start and then he certainly wasn’t helped by the arrival of the Safety Car.
“The SF70H proved itself to be strong also in these conditions, at a track which requires above all power and good traction. The tyres worked very well, which allowed us to fully exploit our very good strategy.”
