New Ferrari Formula 1 chiefs say fixing the team will take time

This year's F1 campaign was the Scuderia's worst since 1993 - the team finishing a distant fourth in the constructors' championship with no wins and only two podiums.

The Maranello outfit has undergone extensive restructuring as it bids to get back to winning ways and new team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said "two or three wins" in 2015 would be satisfactory, adding: "If we win four, we will go to heaven."

Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne also expressed caution about how quickly Ferrari can improve performance, arguing the foundations of Mercedes' dominant 2014 season were laid at least two years previously.

"In my conversations with [Mercedes bosses] Toto Wolff and Dieter Zetsche, the process of allowing them to have the outstanding year they had this year was a decision that was taken a couple of years ago," Marchionne explained.

"It took a good two years to mature in terms of the technical solution.

"Ferrari can probably get to the same place by the end of 2016."

ARRIVABENE: 'I'M NO MAGICIAN'
Ferrari has dispensed with engineering director Pat Fry, chief designer Nikolas Tombazis and tyre analyst Hirohide Hamashima, and recruited Mercedes performance engineer Jock Clear under Arrivabene, who said he was also upbeat about existing internal resources and talent at Ferrari.

"The people we have are good guys and there will be no great surprises now [in terms of poaching from other teams]," he added.

"We need a new sense of team spirit.

"No man is an island - nobody can do anything alone, there are no miracles that can be made and I am no magician.

"We have to work as a team because I do not believe in individual successes.

"I believe in team success."

ENGINE RULES MUST CHANGE

Ferrari has led calls to relax F1's engine freeze in its bid to close the gap to the dominant Mercedes power unit, but the team has not yet been able to secure a relaxation in regulations that prevent mid-season engine upgrades.

"No change has been secured," Marchionne admitted.

"The regulations are a real labyrinth; they are really badly assembled - they must have been written by drunk people at a bar.

"We have to simplify the rules so that even normal people can understand them."

We want to hear from you!

Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.

Take our survey

- The Autosport.com Team

Read and post comments