03/11/2017
NEWS STORY
While claiming that there will be no scapegoats following his team's fall from grace in the second half of the season, Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne has pointed to "driver error" playing a significant factor in the Maranello outfit's poor run-in in the 2017 title fights.
"I don't believe in bad luck," he said during the same conference call in which he warned his team might quit the sport if Liberty Media's plans for the future of F1 are not agreeable.
"Ultimately it's a reflection of the way in which we manage these businesses," he continued.
"It was a combination of, especially in the second half of the season, technical issues and driver error, or driver misjudgement," he claimed.
In the nine races before the break, Ferrari amassed 318 points and 4 wins. However, since the break the Italian team has managed no wins and taken just 137 points.
A highly disappointing performance at home at Monza was followed by the disaster that was Singapore, which was followed by Malaysia and Japan, both races in which Ferrari suffered technical issues.
"As we get close to the end of the season, we've now got two races left to complete," said Marchionne. "As you well know it's impossible and it was almost an impossible task at the last race on Sunday to think that we could recover at least the drivers' title.
"I think we've learned a lot," he insisted. "I think it's a painful way of learning it. I think the second half revealed some structural weaknesses in the manner which we are managing this business, which are going to get rectified and hopefully 2018 will be a much better season."
However, it wasn't all bad, the Italian-Canadian admitting that, certainly in the first half of the season, the team surpassed expectations.
"I remind everybody who asks me this question, and I'm probably the most critical of the way in which we manage our F1 activities, that if I'd asked anybody at this time last year as to how well we would have done in 2017, I couldn't have gotten a buyer for the idea that we would be that far advanced in the first half of the season.
"So we have done well given our starting point. We were unable to finish the task. It's a 2018 objective now. We regret not having done better, but the car is there. It is in my view probably the best car on the track today."