Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Wolff: Ferrari was 'conservative' with engine in China

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Toto Wolff believes Ferrari was "conservative" with its power unit in China after a failure which ruled Sebastian Vettel out of the race in Bahrain.

Vettel's power unit failed on the formation lap in Bahrain, leaving Kimi Raikkonen as the only Ferrari in the race two weeks ago. Heading to China - where president Sergio Marchionne was present - Wolff believes Ferrari did not run at 100% in order to avoid another reliability issue.

"They are definitely a threat," Wolff said. "They came a little bit conservative on the engine this weekend than in Bahrain and it’s just a matter of time."

With the two Ferrari's colliding at Turn 1 but Vettel still finishing second - albeit well over half a minute adrift of Nico Rosberg - Wolff says the recoveries from both Ferrari drivers acts as a warning of the team's potential.

"They tripped over each other at the start which heavily compromised their race, Vettel’s car was damaged twice in the race. If you consider where they were at the end of lap one and they ended 2 and 5 this must be a satisfying result for them. They're very much a competitor."

And Wolff sees Red Bull as a threat too after its impressive showing in China, with Daniel Ricciardo qualifying second and Daniil Kvyat finishing on the podium.

"The pace they had today was very strong. It would be good if they bounce back. Considering that Ricciardo lost his race with the puncture you can imagine that he would certainly have given Vettel some competition. Certainly this weekend they seem to have gained some performance."

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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.