Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene claims race circumstances denied the team’s upgraded power unit a chance to show its full potential during last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Ferrari entered the Montreal event with renewed ambitions, having spent its first three development tokens in an effort to cut the gap to current frontrunners Mercedes.
But a MGU-H issue on Sebastian Vettel’s SF15-T led to his early Q1 exit in qualifying before the four-time world champion was pushed even further back when he received a five-place grid penalty.
Starting from P18, Vettel managed to drive a strong recovery race on Sunday, as he gained 13 positions through the field to cross the line in fifth. Arrivabene thinks the German’s performance is a testament to the step forward Ferrari has made with its new engine.
“If you look at Seb’s pace during the race it's quite clear, in terms of timings, we were there. We had a number of circumstances; we had an issue in qualifying. I'm sure without that problem Seb would have really been there
“In terms of performance, it is fine. But if you're asking me if I'm happy, no, I'm not happy, that's for sure.”
Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen enjoyed a smoother qualifying session as he secured P3 on the grid, albeit some six tenths off pole sitter Lewis Hamilton.
But the Finn never was a realistic threat to the Mercedes duo around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and even lost third place to Williams’ Valtteri Bottas after spinning on his pit stop outlap.
“Kimi got good pace at certain points. He was supposed to do a one-stop strategy but after the spin we went to two-stop to try to catch Bottas but it was not possible. Having said so, this weekend was not a good weekend.”
Despite this series of setbacks, Arrivabene remains confident the upgraded Ferrari power unit is giving satisfactory results.
“The engine upgrade was giving us the answer, a positive answer, that we were looking for. Unfortunately this weekend was not a good one for a number of circumstances. But the response we had from the engine was good.”
Click here for the latest photos from the Canadian Grand Prix
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