As Red Bull get further ahead and results get worse, the pressure will always rise in Maranello. A season of expectation and promise is quickly falling apart for the Scuderia.

For now Maurizio Arrivabene has the vote of confidence of Ferrari CEO, Sergio Marchionne. Yet Sergio is not for suffering fools gladly, and demands success – and quick – from his employees.

The Italian team boss admits that Hungary will be a proving ground in terms of the performance deficit to the Mercedes team, but also claims Ferrari are determined not to fail.

“After Hungary we cannot fool around anymore,” said Arrivabene.

“After that [race], we will understand what chances there are and where we are – and I believe that we cannot fail.

“Earlier in the season we had some problems related to certain components of the power unit, and these were sorted to the point that today our strong point is the engine.

“Now we need to work on reliability and other areas such as the aerodynamics.”

Arrivabene also went on to dismiss the Red Bull renaissance.

“I believe that the progress Red Bull has made is good for F1, because they have helped create more interest and a better show,” he continued.

“But I still think that our goal is to counter the Mercedes and not Red Bull.

“At this stage of the season if we said that we give up it would be wrong. We need to be focused to solve problems, and to do so in tough times.”

The pre-season noise from Sergio Marchionne who was most vocal in his expectations, appears to have been counterproductive to Ferrari’s efforts.

The question is whether the senior ranks at Ferrari will return to playing the blame game. As the pressure mounts, surely heads will once again roll and the Maranello blood be spread far and wide.

By TJ13 contributor Pagie78