Maurizio Arrivabene has had a tough job to do this season. At a time when the Ferrari car was a little superior to Mercedes, Ferrari couldn’t grind out results, largely due to driver mistakes or strategic errors.
And when the Mercedes team responded with an improved package, Ferrari had next to no answers for them.
Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel both have now lost the plot since the summer break, with Mercedes and Hamilton taking advantage of the situation.
However, Arrivabene is not ready to throw in the towel and has urged his team to go in with the hunger to win in Austin.
“It has become a mission impossible, but it’s not over. In Austin, however, we do not leave beaten, I want to say it clearly. And I am sure that sooner or later Sebastian Vettel will win the World Championship at the wheel of Ferrari: I think he has something to do with Schumacher: he is German, but very Italian in and tied up at Maranello from an early age.” Arrivabene said.
Arrivabene also spoke about Kimi’s move to Sauber and how he handled the situation when he was informed of the imminent move away from Ferrari.
Raikkonen is a great professional, with Kimi working together for many years, he had asked us to be notified in advance about our programs. this reason before Monza we announced the arrival of Leclerc, we replaced it to allow a talented youngster like Leclerc to grow alongside a champion like Sebastian Vettel, Raikkonen will run another two years with Sauber, with us he would not be could have gone beyond 2019. Despite the news, Kimi raced as a great professional in Monza” Arrivabene said.
Talking about team orders, Arrivabene confirmed that all possible team orders situations are discussed before hand.
“Before the races there are meetings with the drivers to talk about the race strategy and any team orders are already established before the start. They can not be given later on the basis of events that are not predictable”. he said.
