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Ferrari has to find 'habit to win' mentality

Published on 30 Dec 2018 12:02
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By: Fergal Walsh

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrrivabene says that his team must find a "habit to win" mentality in 2019 if it wants to dethrone Mercedes. The Silver Arrows have won every title in the last five years, and brushed away Ferrari's challenges in 2017 and 2018.

Ferrari mounted a title fight over the last two seasons, but saw its form slip away in the second half of each campaign. Next year, it will have an altered line-up as Charles Leclerc joins in place of Kimi Raikkonen, who returns to Sauber.

Sebastian Vettel, who will compete in his fifth year for Ferrari, recently called on the Scuderia outfit to produce a stronger package for 2019, and Arrivabene says that the Maranello squad must find and adopt a fresh mentality in order to find title success.

"[We need] the habit to win,” Arrivabene said. “A kind of reinforcement but, as I said, but we need to swap our mind and to work a bit more on the habit to win. We need to win enough to win the championship, of course.

"Then it depends on the performance of the other teams, how many. Having said so, the habit to win, it’s very simple. If you are doing one-two it doesn’t have to be an exceptional event. It must be a habit. In that way you are changing and you swap your mentality from a fighter to a winner. That’s it.”

However, Arrivabene refused to pin the blame for title failure on any single element, saying that the team win and loses together: "As Sebastian [Vettel] said, he made mistake, then from Monza onwards we were not there with the car and this is a fact, too, if you’re talking about facts,” he said.

“I don’t want to point the finger at the team or on the driver. If we are losing, we are losing together. If we are winning, we are winning together. And that’s it.”

mcbhargav

Posts: 1,332

1. Poor race strategy 2. Weak improvements over summer break

1
Dec 31 2018 - 01:14

F1 News Sebastian Vettel Kimi Räikkönen Charles Leclerc Maurizio Arrivabene Paddy Driver Bob Said Mercedes Ferrari Sauber

Replies (5)

ajpennypacker

Posts: 2,475
I find it quaint how they have provided so much cover for Sebastián. Ferrari produce a championship car. The best car in about half the races in 2018. They didn't make the gross mistakes Mercedes made with pits tops. Sure, they didn't always go with the optimal strategy, but Ferrari was always there. The only reason they didn't at least get close to winning both championships is the drivers, primarily Sebastián, because Kimi was decent the second half of the year and finished ahead of Bottas. Ferrari doesn't need radical changes, their engineers did a brilliant job. The car was arguably the best car this year. The drivers are what need adjusting and I think the Leclerc move was great.
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- Dec 30 2018 - 16:54
mcbhargav

Posts: 1,332
1. Poor race strategy 2. Weak improvements over summer break
- + 1
- Dec 31 2018 - 01:14
blade

Posts: 341
I think it boils down to wrong development turn at half-time - they were at least a match for Merc until then - even with Vettel's mistakes (cost about 50 points).
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- Dec 31 2018 - 10:31
Ram Samartha

Posts: 1,172
Just the habit of the team to not make so many mistakes would probably be enough. It wasn't just Vettel it was the team. As I recall, they probably could have won two more races with each driver if the team hadn't made some blatant mistakes.
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- Jan 1 2019 - 06:07
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
You need to find that habit, better developmnt curve and better strategy and Vettel need to find his mojo again. This year should have been his. Several teams have issues with one or two of these, and they are bound to, but for Ferrari, a top team, to struggle with such things are a bit beyond me.
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- Jan 1 2019 - 15:13