Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne has said it will be a “tragedy” if his team’s Formula One title drought extends to 10 years.
Kimi Räikkönen was the last driver to win the championship as a Ferrari driver after he outscored the then duelling McLaren duo of Hamilton and Alonso at the concluding race in Brazil in 2007.
While in the following seasons both Massa and Alonso were bridesmaids to the champion while competing for Ferrari. And of course the Italian team were last crowned constructors’ champions in 2008.
Sebastian Vettel’s arrival from Red Bull has sparked something of a resurgence at Ferrari, but Marchionne fears a decade without winning motor racing’s biggest series would be damaging for the sport’s most famous team.
“If we were to string together victories in F1 then it would improve our brand,” Marchionne is quoted in Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I was speaking with one of our car dealerships and we agreed that the results of 2015 helped bring back credibility to the brand. If we were to somehow fail to win a title over a 10-year span it would be a tragedy.”
Marchionne replaced Luca di Montezemolo after the conclusion of the 2014 season in which Ferrari failed to win a race for the first time in more than two decades.
Arrivabene and Vettel were subsequently hired with the German winning three races in an impressive debut year for the Italian marque.
Marchionne added: “The first month when I went to see where we stood in the overall scheme of F1 I realised that we weren’t competitive.
“We cleared our ranks and we won because we brought focus back to the team and began to do the things that are really important. Maurizio Arrivabene’s arrival helped a lot.”
For Vettel this year is one of hope. Ferrari has a ‘radical’ car this year, but if it will be enough to take the challenge to Hamilton and Rosberg remains to be seen.
Hope or pressure? “Arrivabene’s arrival helped a lot” is all well and good, but not a million miles from “Arrivabene’s departure will help a lot”…At least if Ferrari fail to push the Mercs we can look forward to the drama in Maranello as the smiles fade. Et tu Sergio?
If a driver brings between 5 and 8% and the Mercedes with Hamilton is 100% as benchmark, then the Ferrari should be at least 96% for Vettel to be able to get a shot at the championship.
Which is hard.
I just hope they nail it by copying solutions of others, but I fear for that dreaded windtunnel…
But didn’t they have the benefit of the Haas team not having any restrictions on testing and wind tunnel use? However, look how McLaren and Honda messed up even with that free testing.
True, they should’ve had an advantage.
But is the correlation between the tunnel and the actual car finally ok? Or did they use Toyota facilities fir Haas? Can’t remember.
What free testing for mclaren and Honda? Your getting mixed up with development, and Honda is developmening and testing while racing, Mercedes had 3 years developing before even testing. This year will show a huge improvement by Honda.
Honda had at least 18 months when they could have tested the entire package, as there were no restrictions. They chose not to, or they would have realised how underpowered their car was.
Getting that whiff of entitlement smell….
He is not talking about sport values but pure marketing values and thus stock value. It will be a tragedy for his ‘options’ and personal stock, his value as a manager and his own pocket.
– “it would improve our brand”
– “bring back credibility to the brand”
It’s not great for “the sport”, not “fantastic for the tifosi”….. No it would improve the credibility of the brand so that dealers become happy from the sales figures as our latest series of cars are actually quite boring and passionless without the distraction of huge F1 success. The only good tifosi are the ones who buy shares at an overpriced value, all the poor ones who pray to god (Enzo) each evening at their Ferrari shrine but can only afford a cap can go ff themselves. It’s all about branding baby…
All true. With FCA flagging, Marchionne is hoping and praying his F1 efforts restore some of FCA’s revenue losses. And if not it appears he’s perfectly willing to throw anyone under the bus he can to save his reputation… I mean, save “the brand.”
About improving the brand….
Just heard the Ferrari firing up…. My dishwasher sounds better than that.
Good luck Ferrari.