“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?
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Hmm Alonso always seems to succumb to giving banter to his team to get a better car out of them. It's fair enough if he does so, he signed a contract with Ferrari to win championships and now we're in the fifth year of that contract and still he has squat. Though having said that, I don't picture him at any other team now and still expect him to end his career with the red team.
Steven McBain
Roar Guru
Think you're spot on there Rodney with pretty much all of that.
Rodney Gordon
Expert
People are talking about how drivers like Hamilton won't adapt to the new driving style, Raikonnen may be in this camp as well. I'm not sure he has the fighting spirit in him that he had in the early-2000s and I say that as a passionate fan of the Finn. Similarly Alonso can be expected to put up a fight in the early part of the season when the championship is open, but if Mercedes and Williams/Maclaren pull too far ahead he'll be phoning it in through the summer/spring and looking for a drive somewhere else.
Steven McBain
Roar Guru
I think it'll take a few races to shape things this year. Mercedes looked the class of the field but given the raft of changes I think there's a bit of reshuffling to do. I'm not a techy expert on F1 but Raikkonen did look uncomfortable with the car under braking. They're very different animals this year but he's a fine driver and he'll adapt. Alonso remains supreme at getting the best out of a mediocre car. I think where Hamilton may benefit this year is if the tyres are more robust. He drives his car as hard as anyone so if the tyres hold up better that should benefit him.