Following a less than inspiring performance at Barcelona, Ferrari's new boss states the blindingly obvious.

Of course, if one were cynical one could read something into the fact that in a brief piece on the team's official website Ferrari reminds us that Marco Mattiacci has been "a month in the role".

The Italian, who has probably felt every hour of that month, and who was noticeably low key over the course of the Barcelona weekend, used the opportunity to issue the usual ‘rallying cry'.

“Today, we are all aware of the situation in which we find ourselves and that we have to step up a gear immediately,” he says. “At the same time, we are practical people who believe in hard work and we have set ourselves challenging goals.

"I like to talk facts and we have two extremely motivated and combative drivers," he continues, "as well as a cohesive working group, all of whom fully share and support the idea of delivering a new winning cycle.”

In the moments following the Grand Prix Fernando Alonso looked decidedly demotivated, whilst Kimi Raikkonen grunted in response to a TV reporter’s question about strategy before storming off.

Sceptics claim that the decision to put two-time champ Alonso on a three-stop strategy which ultimately allowed him to finish ahead of his teammate, who had the advantage for much of the weekend, was more about the presence of top brass management from Santander.

Meanwhile, sections of the media continue to link Adrian Newey to the Maranello team even though the days when the design of a car rested entirely on one pair of shoulders are long gone.

Chris Balfe