Arrivabene happy with pressure from Ferrari president

Maurizio Arrivabene says Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne is right when he sets higher goals for the Scuderia in 2016, and describes the pressure to perform as “normal”.

Marchionne declared over the winter that not winning any title this year would be “a tragedy” for Ferrari, which last secured the Constructors’ championship in 2008 and the Drivers’ crown in 2007 courtesy of Kimi Raikkonen.

Having supervised Maranello’s renaissance last season, Arrivabene, who became team principal in late 2014, explains that Marchionne’s targets are aimed at further boosting the revered Italian outfit.

“If your editor is asking you to sell more copies, it is putting pressure on you,” the 59-year-old replied to reporters when asked about how Ferrari was coping with increasing expectations.

“It’s normal that the president, when you do something, is not asking you, the following year, to do less than what you have done.

“The role of the president is to push his people to do better, better and better. If he’s going to create pressure this is normal, this is part of our job, this is part of any kind of job. He’s doing his role. He was giving to us what we were asking for and he’s pushing us to strive for the best.”

Marchionne added that Ferrari had to be “the team to beat” at the Australian Grand Prix, and the Maranello outfit came close to match its chairman’s expectations only for a red flag and questionable tyre strategy to deny Sebastian Vettel the win in Melbourne.

Scene at the Australian Grand Prix

Australian Grand Prix - Quotes of the weekend

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