'Just a matter of time' until Ferrari builds winning car

Ferrari chief technical officer Mattia Binotto believes it is "just a matter of time" until the team builds a car capable of winning championships again.

2016 was a frustrating year for Ferrari as it failed to win a race and finished third in the constructors' championship behind Mercedes and Red Bull. Having not won the drivers' title since Kimi Raikkonen's success in 2007, or a constructors' championship since 2008, Ferrari is hoping the regulation changes next year will provide better opportunities.

Binotto - who only took over from James Allison in July - says the ingredients are in place for Ferrari to be successful but wants the team to be better at responding to challenges.

“There are so many changes to the rules relating to aerodynamics," Binotto said. "We will see cars that are much quicker through the corners, under acceleration and in braking. There is nothing to say that we here in Maranello cannot build such a car…It’s just a matter of time.

"What we lacked on occasions this year was the ability to react quickly. We must be able to introduce new solutions before the others do.”

Ferrari has failed to win a race in two of the past three seasons, with the three victories for Sebastian Vettel in 2015 representing the team's only wins in the past 73 races.

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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.