New Ferrari senior performance engineer Jock Clear says winning a Formula One championship with the Scuderia would be better than his previous achievements in the sport.
Ferrari last sealed the Constructors’ crown in 2008, while Kimi Raikkonen remains Maranello’s most recent champion with his 2007 victory.
The Italian team poached Clear from Mercedes in December 2014 but the British engineer was put on a one-year gardening leave before he could replace former Ferrari head of engineering Pat Fry.
Clear’s storied F1 career already includes engineering Jacques Villeneuve to the 1997 laurels at Williams, taking part in Brawn GP’s 2009 championship-winning campaign, and helping Lewis Hamilton to his first Mercedes title. But the 52-year-old admits that claiming success with Ferrari would taste even sweeter.
“It is great to be wearing red,” Clear said. “When you get into motorsport there is one name which is synonymous with motor sport at the highest level and that is Ferrari.
“We have huge respect for all our opposition up and down the pit lane and I have worked with many of the guys out there over the year. But as a young kid you dream about working for Ferrari and now I am, so it is a dream come true.
“If you look at any sport, if you were as good as you were 10 years ago, you won't be anywhere near good enough now. So the championship I am going to win with Ferrari is going to be at a new level. It is going to be better than we ever were when we won championships with other teams. That is the same for all of us.”
Having emerged as Mercedes’ closest rivals in 2015, Ferrari seems to have made further inroads into the double world champions’ advantage this year, as highlighted by Sebastian Vettel nearly taking victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
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