Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Ferrari waits on Mercedes potential

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Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene is waiting to see the potential of Mercedes following the first test at Jerez.

Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time of the week at the Circuito de Jerez, with Sebastian Vettel also top of the standings on the first two days. Despite such encouraging pace from Ferrari - as well as impressive mileage - Arrivabene is refusing to get carried away by the strong start as he feels Mercedes has yet to show the performance it is capable of.

“If one makes a comparison to last year, these past few days of testing have produced encouraging signs,” Arrivabene said. “The team has worked well, both at home and at the track and our drivers did a great job, providing the engineers with valuable feedback.

“But above all, I am pleased that the group has rediscovered its motivation and team spirit. In terms of performance, I don’t think our competitors – one in particular – have shown their true potential over these past days. I think we will only discover the truth about them and about ourselves at the last Barcelona test session.”

The second pre-season test runs from February 19-22, while the final test takes place from February 26-March 1.

Click here for the full final day gallery from the Jerez test

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.