Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene wants his team to replicate the Mercedes mindset of victories being a habitual process rather than a one-off event. The Maranello team mounted a strong title challenge this year, claiming five wins compared to the world champions’ 12. Mercedes managed to continue its dominance of the V6 turbo era despite a completely rewritten set of aerodynamic regulations, which saw the introduction of faster, wider cars which many had expected would shake up the competitive order at the top.
When asked whether he identified any strength at Mercedes which he wanted Ferrari to emulate, Arrivabene said: “I think, how you tend to respect the team that have won four constructors’ championships and four drivers’ championships. It’s normal that they are strong. For that I have a lot of respect but it could be even better if we’re able next year to fight with them and finally to win.
“I think one of the strengths of Mercedes, apart from the brand they’re representing, how the team is organised, it’s also their habit to win. Sometimes you are going to have a pole position and it’s becomes an event. Pole position must become a habit and not an event. This is what I mean for a habit to win. It doesn’t have to be perceived as an event, the victory, or the pole position. It must be the natural result of the work that you are doing. In this way, I have a lot of respect for them but in this way, we know what we have to do for the future in our side.” – Maurizio Arrivabene added, as reported by the Italian media earlier today.
Despite missing out on the title, Scuderia Ferrari’s season was its most successful in recent memory. It was the first time it had scored five victories since the 2010 campaign, while it also registered the same amount of pole positions — doubling its tally for the current decade. Though Maurizio Arrivabene is pleased to have seen Ferrari make a big step forward on Saturdays and Sundays, he says it means little if the championship trophy does not finish the season at Maranello: “Of course the number of pole positions and so on they are important somehow but the most important is the championship. The good number that we have at the moment is demonstrating the good job of the overall team but the fact that we were not able to win the championship means that it’s not enough, so we have to push forward to next year to do it better.”
Ferrari is still yet to win a drivers’ championship since Kimi Raikkonen‘s sole title in 2007. It’s most recent constructors’ championship title was won the following season.
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