James Allison and Mattia Binotto on the close fight between Ferrari and Mercedes. The technical directors at Ferrari and Mercedes are both expecting a close fight.

James Allison, Mercedes technical director, and Mattia Binotto, Chief Technical Officer of Scuderia Ferrari, agree that the 2017 Formula 1 title may be decided by a very small margin, after what we have seen in the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton were involved in the fight for the win at the opening round of the Formula 1 championship, on the Albert Park circuit, with the German driver coming out on top as a result of a strategic battle which the Maranello team won. For the moment the two teams seem to be closely matched at the beginning of the season and James Allison, who left Ferrari last summer and recently joined Mercedes in March, said that most likely this situation will remain the same over the course of the year: “If it wasn’t already clear after qualifying, then it’s certainly clear now that this is going to be a season of very small margins. We got a good getaway from the flag. But credit to Ferrari, they had a very quick car and we just weren’t quite good enough to stick with them. We won’t panic, though. It’s race one of a long season and we scored some very good points with both cars today. We’ll be determined to come back stronger in China and make sure those small margins go our way next time.” – James Allison said, as reported by espn.co.uk.

Ferrari technical director Mattia Binotto, who stepped up to the Chief Technical Officer position after taking over from James Allison during last summer, is now confident that the development race will now make a difference in the second part of the season and hopes that the Italian team can continue to constantly improve the SF70H: “It is only on the track that you reap the rewards of your collective efforts over the winter. It was a busy period during which everyone doubled their energy and effort. We still have 19 challenges ahead of us and this first race shows how the slightest thing can make the difference between being in front or being behind. Therefore, we must continue to push as hard as possible on development.” – Mattia Binotto concluded.