Ferrari wil be on par with RedBull-Merchionne

[PURE PASSION]

Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne on Tuesday admitted the Maranello team might have to wait for its next F1 title. "2018? Absolutely, but we will try to do it a little before," he smiled at the Geneva Motor Show, according to Italian media reports.

Ferrari has emerged from the chaos of 2014 with a car that insiders believe is in a close group behind obvious pacesetters Mercedes. "We will be on par with Red Bull when we go onto the circuit," Marchionne explained, "but we will go to the track and see. I don't want to be critical, but the situation when I arrived was not good. The men and women of Ferrari have done amazing things that I never would have expected in these four months."

Indeed, he said Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel are happy with the SF15-T, but the reigning champions Mercedes "should not be underestimated". "Last year they did something great, and they are prepared to do it again. We will try to stop them," the Italian-Canadian insisted.
Why didnt he mention Williams?Cause they are in front of us or behind?????:Hmm

[fratelliferrari]

Which team is that? Frerrari? :rotfl

[PURE PASSION]

Sorry!!!My bad!!!:-D

[shamim179]

Problem is we might be behind lotus as they think they have a quick car. So it could be that we're behind Mercedes, Williams and lotus so at best fighting for 7th and 8th places. And once honda sort out their teething problems they should be in the mix.

[Greig]

Problem is we might be behind lotus as they think they have a quick car. So it could be that we're behind Mercedes, Williams and lotus so at best fighting for 7th and 8th places. And once honda sort out their teething problems they should be in the mix.

Or we might not be. Everyone thinks they have a quick car right now.

[FerrariSteve]

Or we might not be. Everyone thinks they have a quick car right now.

McLaren don't :P

[paolo lalli]

Shame on you shamin oh so so negative be happy.

[REDARMYSOJA]

Less talk, more fast Sergio.

[Brembo]

Seb gave us all we need to know to be on par with Red Bull!! I believe were advanced enough to beat Merc but were keeping it quiet untill the races start. Ferrari's next title could be 2015 ! Saying 2018 was meant as a joke to the other teams. 20x3yrs. = 60 races more or less that were giving up on ??? Replace Sergio ASAP just for saying that !

[Stormsearcher]

i think we will be behind Williams, at least in qualifying trim. But otherwise, it looks like we could mix it up with them in race pace. Not sure where RBR are honestly. Or lotus. But they seem to be pretty confident of having something in the bag.
Mclaren will be quick once they sort out reliability. Mid season on, they should be fighting with Williams and Ferrari. Merc might be way too ahead. Once again we will be watching Lewis beat the crap out of Rosberg. For the second year running, the fun will be not who will be WCC or WDC, but who is the best of the rest.

[wacc]

Ferrari will be faster in the quali and slower in the race. :-)

[wisepie]

It's not good to be negative but any teams with the Merc power unit are likely to have an advantage, so our expectations need to be modest until the season starts, even then Melbourne won't necessarily show the true order of things. But after all the efforts over the winter, we can at least hope to have reduced the gap and be in a position to fight for podiums. The team spirit seems positive at present, but we still really don't know how strong we are and the Merc-engined cars will most likely be our biggest problem. The wait is nearly over, so the truth will soon be known.

[PURE PASSION]

Williams believes it will be "scrapping" with Ferrari early in the 2015 Formula 1 season and suspects the Italian team is closer than final testing results suggest.

Despite finishing behind Red Bull in third in the constructors' standings, Williams was world champion Mercedes' closest rival on pace in 2014.

It was Mercedes' nearest challenger again in the final test at Barcelona last week, ahead of Ferrari.
However, Williams's chief test and support engineer Rod Nelson believes a mistake by Sebastian Vettel hid Ferrari's true potential.

The German's super-soft tyre run on the final day of testing was four tenths of a second slower than Williams driver Valtteri Bottas's effort on the same rubber, but Nelson thinks that was deceptive.

"I think he pushed too hard at the start of the lap and lunched the tyres by the time he got halfway round," said Nelson, when asked by AUTOSPORT where Williams is in the pecking order.

"So I expect Ferrari to be a little it closer than maybe it looked.

"We're going to have a scrap with them, certainly at the start of the season."

[Winter]

It's not good to be negative but any teams with the Merc power unit are likely to have an advantage, so our expectations need to be modest until the season starts, even then Melbourne won't necessarily show the true order of things. But after all the efforts over the winter, we can at least hope to have reduced the gap and be in a position to fight for podiums. The team spirit seems positive at present, but we still really don't know how strong we are and the Merc-engined cars will most likely be our biggest problem. The wait is nearly over, so the truth will soon be known.

Mercedes will be the best PU, but McLaren lifts my hopes. 2014 McLaren I mean ;-) And the cap between our and Mercs Pu seems to be x-much smaller than last year.

[Nero Horse]

Problem is we might be behind lotus as they think they have a quick car. So it could be that we're behind Mercedes, Williams and lotus so at best fighting for 7th and 8th places. And once honda sort out their teething problems they should be in the mix.

Or you know, we could just as well be ahead of Williams, Lotus, RB and fighting closely with Mercs, imo that is just as likely to happen as your pessimistic scenario. There is no doubt that Ferrari has taken a step forward compared to last season, so I believe there's definitely cause for at least some amount of optimism.

And I really hope that honda will never sort out their problems and we'll only see puffs of smoke coming from the back of macca in every race, that'd be great, thanks. :thumb

[Alonsomaniac]

Well, I have no idea where we are.......I mean, for years and years we have been told all kinds of stories, but we were never where we wanted to be. So, I just wait.......

[abbottcostello]

Well, I have no idea where we are.......I mean, for years and years we have been told all kinds of stories, but we were never where we wanted to be. So, I just wait.......
My thoughts exactly.
There is a wide range of where we could be & it is impossible to tell, as pretty much uninformed observers. Not knowing any of the variables of fuel load, aero setup, engine maps, etc., etc., it amazes me that any fan can claim anything with the certainty they profess!
Like redarmysoja says, "less talk, more fast Sergio" :thumb

[Brembo]

According to Sergio, 2018 is the year for Ferrari to show some wins !!! Great inside info. for us outside the insidide info. fans. He should IMO be reduced to sweeping floors @ Ferrari for the next 3 yrs. just to keep him busy and earning his pay. What a great PR guy for Ferrari fans to look up to.

[mirafiori]

According to Sergio, 2018 is the year for Ferrari to show some wins !!! Great inside info. for us outside the insidide info. fans. He should IMO be reduced to sweeping floors @ Ferrari for the next 3 yrs. just to keep him busy and earning his pay. What a great PR guy for Ferrari fans to look up to.

No you are wrong Brembo, Sergio said we will win the title by 2018 OR before. Please don't knock this guy he is doing a fantastic job for the Fiat empire, in Italy now Fiat are opening new factories other factories that were running below capacity are now running at full capacity, thousands of new jobs are being created not only in Italy also in the USA and other countries around the world, a strong Fiat means a strong Ferrari.:thumb

[wisepie]

I understand what you're saying Brembo, but mirafiori has a point and much as Marchionne seems to be a pretty hard guy, he appears to be making positive changes to FCA and that can only be good for the Italian motor industry's desperate need for survival. If that translates into Ferrari's renaissance too, we'll all be happy!

[Brembo]

Thanks for clearing that for me. Before is what I'm hoping for, even this year would be great for some wins & podiums. I went into shock when I saw 2018 ! Too much vino !

[Ferrari_fan89]

nice to hear but i wanna know how we compare against Williams and Mercedes

[IulianFerrari]

I would be very happy if we are on par with RBR. RBR has been faster than us since forever now, every year. Last year we were joking about their PU and in Australia they finished 2nd. I expect them to be very strong again, to expect anything else means you have not seen them the past 6-7 years. On the other hand I believe Mclaren will be weak, and they will not challenge for a win, or even a podium the entire year.

[zike]

nice to hear but i wanna know how we compare against Williams and Mercedes

I think we are on par with Williams, and a second behind Merc

[mirafiori]

Thanks for clearing that for me. Before is what I'm hoping for, even this year would be great for some wins & podiums. I went into shock when I saw 2018 ! Too much vino !

We all want to see Ferrari back at the top but we are coming from a very low point in 2014, so getting back to the top will take time, we can see some positives from testing and we are now going in the right direction. I see you are based in the USA and you will know more about SM than most of us on this forum. He has done an incredible job and he is ruthless in getting want he wants, Chrysler is now a success story and he has earned the privilidge to head Ferrari back to glory. By the way I love your user name Brembo.:thumb

[abbottcostello]

We all want to see Ferrari back at the top but we are coming from a very low point in 2014, so getting back to the top will take time, we can see some positives from testing and we are now going in the right direction. I see you are based in the USA and you will know more about SM than most of us on this forum. He has done an incredible job and he is ruthless in getting want he wants, Chrysler is now a success story and he has earned the privilidge to head Ferrari back to glory. By the way I love your user name Brembo.:thumb
I'm from USA as well, I can't remember for sure but think it was here on TSN where I first heard of Sergio, then searched out some articles on the internet about him at Chrysler :lol. Seems to be pretty low key guy, is not at all big on pomp & circumstance. Sets high goals, but gives people the tools they need to accomplish them.
Well, at least that's what I got out of what I've read about him, now we get to see if he delivers as good as w/Chrysler!!
Fingers crossed that he's right about being on par with RB, that would be a good start to season!