President Marchionne says neither Arrivabene nor drivers need to be changed at Maranello; Insists he won't rebuke team for "out of body experience" in Barcelona qualy
Sunday 15 May 2016 14:23, UK
Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne says Maurizio Arrivabene retains his "total" confidence and the team is in "the best shape I've seen it in a long time", despite their disappointing start to 2016.
Pressure has been growing on F1's Italian powerhouse having missed several opportunities to challenge Mercedes for race victories and, ahead of the Spanish GP, their rivals had more than double their points after just four races.
Marchionne, who has a reputation as a no-nonsense operator, ramped up the scrutiny on Ferrari further by declaring they needed to start winning races as soon as possible.
Reports in Italy had suggested team boss Arrivabene could come under pressure for his job, but asked if the Italian still retained his confidence, Marchionne told Sky Sports F1: "Totally. Beyond question."
Marchionne was speaking after arriving in the Spanish GP paddock, the day after Ferrari's season hit a new low when they were outqualified by both Red Bulls, as well as the Mercedes drivers.
Vettel backs under-pressure Arrivabene
However, the Italian-Canadian cited an "out of body experience" with tyre temperatures for the team's shock qualifying struggles and backed them to learn lessons to avoid a repeat.
"I still think we still have two of the world's best pilots," he replied, when asked if change was needed at the team.
"I shouldn't be saying this with four drivers who are not ours in front of us [on the Barcelona grid], but I think we have the best pilots.
"I think the team is in the best shape I've seen it in a long, long time. They need to continue to work diligently on facing these issues.
"I will not make a huge issue out of the fact that yesterday we had this out of body experience with operating the car in a temperature window that was not proper. Had we known it we would have done a variety of things differently to the tyres.
"It has never happened to us, so we'll get better at this."
Don't miss the F1 Report: Spanish GP on Wednesday night at 8.30pm when Sir Patrick Head and Marc Priestley will join Natalie Pinkham to review events in Barcelona
