Ferrari's Maurizio Arrivabene says Sebastian Vettel's performance in the United States Grand Prix displays the progress being made by the team's engine department.
Vettel and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen both had to take ten-place grid penalties in Austin as a result of Ferrari introducing a new specification of power unit. Despite starting from 13th, Vettel recovered to finish on the podium and had looked a threat for victory at one stage. Arrivabene says the pace displayed in coming through the field shows Ferrari made the right decision to take the penalties this weekend.
"I don’t think that we can talk about the reliability of the engine but the performance of the engine," Arrivabene said. "We were able to have the performance to demonstrate due to the strategy we put together in early January.
"We planned this change of engine and there is something that you need if you want to have the performance, you have to pay your fee. Here we paid our fee. We were nearly having a very, very good news before the safety car but I mean we are very, very happy because we gained the podium."
And Arrivabene admits Ferrari felt Vettel could have won the race before a late safety car for Daniil Kvyat's crash.
"[Vettel] made a fantastic race and the strategy was very good. At a certain point of the race before the second safety car we were also dreaming but it is fine like this and we are happy."
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