Maurizio Arrivabene says he vows to “keep calm” despite Ferrari’s failure to win a race in the first nine grands prix of the 2016 Formula One season.
The Scuderia looked strong again in Austria last weekend, especially as both Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel started on Pirelli’s supersoft compound while the two Mercedes drivers were initially on the high-degradation ultrasofts.
However a spectacular tyre failure put paid to the German’s hopes, while the Finn lost out to the Red Bulls after delaying his pit stop and eventually came home third.
Having entered the current campaign with high ambitions, Ferrari has yet to taste victory in 2016 but Arrivabene refuses to go into panic mode.
“When you are going to win it’s always we are going up to the sky because I am very emotional and very passionate but in this role you have to forget about this, you have to keep calm,” the 59-year-old Italian said.
“You have to look at the season, the next races and to keep the team motivated without too many ups and downs.
“We need to follow our way. I always said that I don’t trust the bad luck but in this case I think we have a big debt with the luck and it has a big debt with us.”
Arrivabene also swiftly moved to dismiss the idea that Ferrari yet again missed out on a race win due to questionable strategy calls.
“I don’t think it was a missed opportunity,” he added. “We followed totally our strategy and sometimes we can’t talk to the driver because the rules are very clear but the drivers can give us feedback at certain points.
“Kimi decided to carry on like this and we went on one other option for strategy but without the yellow flags he wasn’t going to overtake Verstappen. I think what we have to say is he’s done a great race.”
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