“Our competitiveness was not acceptable in Melbourne,” was Ferrari technical director James Allison’s summary of his team’s performance at the Australian Grand Prix.
The opening round of the 2014 Formula One championship in Melbourne saw Mercedes AMG dominate the rest of the field, with Lewis Hamilton securing pole position and then Nico Rosberg wrapping up the race by 24 seconds.
With the addition of the Daniel Ricciardo disqualification, Fernando Alonso and his newteammate Kimi Räikkönen were able to finish fourth (+35.2 seconds) and seventh (+57.6 seconds) respectively.
Räikkönen had evidently struggled with the F14 T all weekend. The Finn was unable to get the hang of the brake-by-wire system, which is a new feature on all of the 2014 cars. A rather icy start then, to the Iceman’s return to Ferrari.
The 2007 World Champion said the team knows what they need to do but it “wouldn’t happen overnight”.
Technical boss Allison also said the Scuderia can take “some satisfaction” in terms of reliability away from Australia and he expects all teams will be locked in a “fierce development battle” until the final race of the season.
Judging from the feedback Ferrari have given post-Melbourne, it seems as if they may not be able to match the raw speed of the Mercedes AMG car and to an extent McLaren and Red Bull, until the championship descends upon Europe in late April.
For four years, the famous Maranello squad have stood in the shadow of Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel. On two of those championships, the title was taken from under Alonso’s nose in the last race by the young German.
Now with the change in regulation, dominance appears to have shifted to Mercedes AMG, leaving Ferrari as the bridesmaids of Formula One yet again.
Luca di Montezemolo, the president of Ferrari, has urged his Tifosi to stay “patient” and “loyal”, as there is still time for the red car to emerge as a race winner.
But how long will it take? Can the marquee pairing of Alonso and Räikkönen deliver one, two, or both championships back to Maranello in 2014?
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