Ferrari F1 boss Mattiacci says Monza exposed team deficit

Ferrari boss Marco Mattiacci says his team's performance at the Italian Grand Prix showed exactly how far it is behind the dominant Mercedes squad in Formula 1 this season

Mercedes recorded another one-two result at Monza, while Fernando Alonso's ERS-related retirement and Kimi Raikkonen's distant ninth-place finish marked the Scuderia's worst home grand prix since Michael Schumacher finished 10th and Rubens Barrichello a lapped 12th in the 2005 edition.

The race also marked the first time in six years Ferrari has not finished on the podium at its home grand prix, and Mattiacci said the demands of the Monza circuit had fully exposed the F14 T's shortcomings.

"I keep saying we have been doing small but consistent improvements on the car but definitely this track [showed] completely the deficit that there is between us and the leaders," Mattiacci said.

"I still believe that we had good pace.

"The car confirmed that we had an improvement, but we definitely have a deficit in qualifying and if you start lower on the grid it is going to be difficult [at] a track like this if you don't have a strong power unit and downforce.

"I think we had the same pace [as] Red Bull and some of the others, so we could have done better but we started too far behind to have a normal race."

Mattiacci said his first experience of the Italian GP as Ferrari team principal had further fired his desire to return the squad to winning ways as soon as possible.

"For me it was important to experience the impressive passion [and] love that is around Ferrari, and to understand the relevance that Ferrari is much more than a racing company but is an institution, and we have [an] obligation to our fans and all these enthusiasts," Mattiacci added.

"This gave me a lot of motivation to all the team to make sure that this frustration is going to end."