Arrivabene thinks Ferrari is only one tenth behind Merc

God bless his soul and I love the guy, probably the best thing that has happened to the Scuderia in a long while but, this statement has little substance. I can only imagine it must've been made public for political ammunition w The Black Sweater in an effort to save face or his job.

Here are the Qualy times from the last 3 GPs:

China
Nico, 1:35:402 *pole
Kimi, 1:35:972

Bahrain
Hamilton, 1:29:493 *pole
Vettel, 1:30:412

Australia
Hamilton, 1:23:837 *pole
Vettel, 1:24:675

At every turn, every session Merc has been able to turn it up another notch, consistently maintaining their gap. I think Arrivabene is getting desperate...3 races still no wins, maybe he meant "the closest we've ever gotten was one tenth in qualy" or maybe "we will be only one tenth behind".

Let's not even get into race pace, merc are still able to cruise to victories by a great margin.

Link to article where Arrivabene made the comments:
Ferrari believes it is one tenth behind Mercedes

 

Yes it is a rather bold claim he's making

 

Bold claim, I think not completely accurate so far. Definitely not in qualifying but I think it's a possibility in race pace.

I'd like to see them win in Spain. Last time I was at a race Kimi won, would be nice if the fact repeats itself .

 

There was an article in the AMuS the other day where is said that Mercedes was truly concerned about Ferrari pace and that they (Merc) got away lucky thus far with Ferrari's pace not having shown.

 

We'll see. I just get the feeling there's some dial that Merc can turn at will to give the extra half second they always seem to find.

The conspiracy theorist in me says that Bernie told Merc to let Ferrari get 1 pole and 3 or 4 race wins this year... still being negotiated.

The realist in me just believes that Merc are the best and smartest team right now and only show enough to win. Why give away your hand? All this constant blather from them about Ferrari from them has started to look a bit contrived to me.

I just want a clean race at a normal track. No accidents, no safety cars, no weather issues, no mechanical and software bugs, etc. Just an on par race between the two. That'll better show the real order.

 

Talk talk talk...!

If you're the number one team, you probably should always say "yeah, those other guys are really close, we have a big battle on our hands."

If you're the number two or lower team, you probably should always say "yeah, those are other guys are great but we're getting really close and have a big battle on our hands."

Go ahead and say this every year, whether it really is close or if it's 1988 and the leading team is in another league by multiple seconds a lap.

 

+1
Or as Jackie Stewart would say: The idea is to win the race as slowly as possible.

 

+1

They do the best job at the moment, just like Red Bull did for several years before, and Ferrari before them.

 

Arrivabene....is a nice 'cheer-leader'. Ferrari are not as reliable or as fast just yet.

 

Maybe in race pace not qualy. But Merc have the much stronger driver pairing so that makes the car look better than it is

 

of course they do.....3WDC v 5WDC.

 

ouch

 

Kimi is past it Rosberg is far quicker. Hamilton is better than Vettel too. Damon hill is a wdc and he's slow. wdc means little

 

Romberg is probably better than Kimi at this point...maybe...perhaps at this point. Not so sure that Lewis is better than Seb though.

These "my dad is tougher than your dad" arguments are meaningless until you can put each driver in an identical car...setup for them and race a season. Until we see that..it's all armchair quarterbacking.

 

My thoughts as well. I think Seb is the best driver on the grid to be honest. What he did with the car after it was damaged is amazing to me.

 

Smart too....

 

He's a ****ing crybaby and blames other people for his stuff ups.

Vettel has always been an arsehole (multi 21 anybody ..... hit the back of his team mate in the lead !!).

I seriously hope Ferrari get Dan Ricciardo in the team as that will definitely sort Vettel out.

Dan can pass people without causing controversy or banging people off the track like Hamilton or Vettel ..... Kimi is also like Dan with superior racecraft to the two "wunderkind", Vettel/Hamilton.

This ain't NASCAR, it's suppose to be about superior driving in the best racing cars in the world so I think Hamilton and Vettel should follow Montoya and head off to the smash up derby crowd.

I like Arrivabene very much, he reminds me of another Jean Todt and I believe him when he says Ferrari is a lot closer than Merc want them to be

 

Knew the rules and passed two scenic drivers on the pit entry road.

 

I still don't understand all the Ferrari hate on a Ferrari forum... Hamilton better than Vettel? Raikonnen better race craft? When Hams gets 4, count em, 4 WDC, then you can call him EQUAL to Vettel. Hams locks his brakes EVERY race and Hobbs is kind enough to call it "aggressive." Then Hams complains about vibrations. Duh!? Raikonnen sure stuffed it up in China just now and at Silverstone last year. Yeah Vettel made some stupid mistakes when he was younger but at least he was honest enough to admit them, even giving himself the cuckoo finger wind beside his own head. He's learned from them and was taking after Sir Jackie by chewing out Kviat, right or wrong. When Hams gets his 5th WDC, then you can say he's better than Vettel. Senna should have had 4 too if not for the @#$% Prost. I suspect we have crap turbo bearings because Sweater cheaped out on the Scuderia and he got a dose of it in the first 3 races. Vettel drove like hell with a busted wing. Fact!
Fanboy set back to off

 

If I were Arrivabene Id also be concerned about this - Formula 1: How Red Bull could blow F1 title race open - BBC Sport

The chassis is certainly not in doubt. I hope Ferrari have some upgrades that are effective coming soon!

 

Just checked but odds for even the Russian GP aren't that high, 22/1 for Ricciardo win. If that was the case with Monaco would be worth a little bet as I've got a suspicion that Red Bull will be very quick there...

 

In qualifying they have not a chance but the points are given on Sundays. I'm pretty sure that they're not too far in race pace.

Yet, being "not too far" means that you need to do a perfect race a have some luck to win, and that hasn´t happened so far. You can´t win a championship only with perfect races and luck.

 

Truth is, no one knows. The Mercs seems to be holding back, and Ferrari have some bad luck lately.

But i sincerely doubt that they are just one tenth. More like half a second.

 

Agree,Elton won 3 and it means nothing to me.....

 

LOL

He's still on his ''Kimi is ****'' campaign I see.