Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel says Sergio Marchionne’s passing was a “big loss” for the Maranello team and affected their 2018 Formula 1 season. The former Scuderia CEO died days before the Hungarian Grand Prix.
After 10 rounds, Ferrari was ahead in the constructor’s championship and looked to be giving Mercedes a proper challenge. During race weekends surrounding the news, Ferrari paid tribute to Marchionne: “The passing of our chairman, Mr Marchionne obviously had an impact and was tough,” Vettel said in an interview for AMuS – “I think it’s up to us to look in every single detail and make sure we come out as a strong group enabling us to build a stronger package for next year and for the future. He was giving us always a lot of pressure, but also there to help us and guide us. It was a big loss, but I think as a team we tried to respond and just to continue, respecting him and his legacy.”
Mercedes wrapped up the title win with a race to spare and ultimately finishing way ahead of their rivals.
The German driver also reflected on other aspects which led to the disappointing outcome this year: “I believe the strength of Mercedes this year was to take full advantage of our weaknesses and bounce back in those races. At the same time, Mercedes told everyone how dominant our car was and put more pressure on us. Our car was not dominant. We had our chances. We used most of them. But at the end something was missing. It was also difficult for us to understand where the problems were. We needed to take a big step back to bring the performance back on track. That‘s why we were not in the same development stage as our rivals.” – Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel concluded.
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