“We don’t forget where we were last year” – Ferrari is breathing down the neck of McLaren for the fight for third, an upgrade after finishing P6 last season.
Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies does not shy away from acknowledging the impressive form of traditional rivals McLaren. The two giants are locked in the battle for P3, with five races to go.
And considering Ferrari had a disastrous P6 – their worst in four decades – last season, this truly feels like an upgrade. For Mekies, it is now about building a strong car for next season, and genuinely targeting what they ought to – the World Title.
“It’s a very good fight, McLaren have had a very strong season.
“They had a great win in Monza, it’s a team that is pushing very hard and you know we are happy to be in that fight. We don’t forget where we were last year.
“So, the fact that we have managed to reconstruct to the extent that we can be in that fight today is a good testimony on the progress made by the team on that reconstruction.
“I think it means turning into facts the progress that we are trying to make, and that we believe we are making, so that’s what it is all about in the end.
“I think the greatest signs of the reconstruction is that even in the darkest moment of last year the team stayed very united.
“We know we were in front of a huge task to turn things around and to get out of the situation we were in, but even in this darkest moment the team was very, very strong at sticking together.
“This year, despite the fact the regulations were very restrictive in the amount of development you could do into the car, we’ve seen some progress, it gave confidence, we’re brought some more developments to the car, they have taken the car in the right direction.
“It gave again some more confidence, so I think it’s a reconstruction phase.”
Ferrari did not win a single title last decade, dominated by Red Bull and Mercedes.
