Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Marchionne: 'The real battle starts in 2016' for Ferrari

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Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne has praised the team for its performance in 2015 but says "the real battle" starts next season.

Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene set the target of two victories when this year's car was launched in January, but Sebastian Vettel went on to win three times as he finished third in the drivers' championship. Marchionne told Ferrari team members during its Christmas lunch that he is pleased with the performance this season and is confident of more success in 2016.

"You know that the real battle starts in 2016, but we can count on two drivers who have already been world champions and engineers who can take us back to the top," Marchionne said.

"This year, we’d have been happy with two wins, but we managed three, as well as a whole host of podium finishes. The most important thing is that, above all, we made the most of our in-house resources, without taking on too many outsiders.”

And Arrivabene challenged Ferrari to exceed expectations once again in 2016 as it looks to close the gap to Mercedes.

“Our aim for next year is to work with even more determination, to deserve this badge that we must wear with honour," Arrivabene said. "A special thanks goes to our President, who has always supported us, putting himself in the front line. ‘We race’ is in our DNA.”

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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.