Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff says he is expecting Ferrari to present “a robust challenge” to his team in 2016.
Coming off a dismal and winless 2014 campaign, the Italian squad has emerged as the double world champions’ nearest rivals, with Sebastian Vettel being the only non-Mercedes driver who has secured a grand prix win this year.
While the German was quick to downplay Niki Lauda’s comments about Ferrari matching Mercedes in terms of engine power, he is confident the gap has closed at the front. So does his team principal Maurizio Arrivabene, who declared after last Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix that Maranello “must be ahead next season”.
Mercedes has been the incontestable benchmark in the new 1.6-litre V6 turbocharged era, but Wolff feels that period of clear domination might come to an end.
“I am anticipating a robust challenge from Ferrari because they have done some clever moves, and they have definitely caught up,” he said.
“You can see that even towards the end of the race [in Brazil] Sebastian was not very far away. When Lewis [Hamilton] and Nico [Rosberg] pushing flat out biggest gap was seven seconds, which is not a clear cut dominant race win.
“I think we will have a situation where Ferrari will be a very important competitor.”
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