Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene admitted his delight at their first victory for over a year was tempered by the fact only one of their cars reached the podium.
Sebastian Vettel won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix ahead of Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. Kimi Raikkonen came home fourth in the other Ferrari.
Vettel “did a great job, as did the whole team in fact” said Arrivabene. “It’s a shame that Kimi struggled in the early stages to get into the right rhythm.”
“When we launched the SF70H we referred to it as ‘our Ferrari’ and indeed today’s win reflects all the effort and hard work put in over the past few months, both in Maranello and at the track,” he added.
Mattia Binotto, who took over as the team’s technical director last season, said the win was down to how well the car looked after its tyres.
“The GP was all decided at the pit stops,” he said. “At that moment, we probably had less tyre degradation than our rivals towards the end of the stint and that meant we were able to stay out on track for longer.”
“From then on, it was a case of bringing home the car in terms of reliability.”
“Seb did an excellent job, while Kimi definitely had a more complicated race, partly because he started from a bit further back on the grid. However, he managed to hold onto this position to the finish and his lap times in the final part of the race showed what he was capable of.”
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SpaFrancorchamps (@spafrancorchamps)
26th March 2017, 10:42
Raikkonen is a huge liability and could mean losing the championship this season. I don’t understand why they haven’t bought Grosjean from Haas, Ferrari’s line-up would be so much stronger. Raïkonnen isn’t good enough anymore to be the number 1, nor good enough to be a number 2. This has been obvious for a long time now.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
26th March 2017, 10:51
@spafrancorchamps Kimi has beaten Grosjean before, it’s very likely that he would again. Kimi is no longer in his prime but maybe it’s time to consider Vettel is just that much better.
SpaFrancorchamps (@spafrancorchamps)
26th March 2017, 11:00
It was just an example, but I don’t think Kimi is the same Kimi as back when they were teammates at Lotus. He’s lost it. I think Grosjean on the other hand, has only become better. He was also the clear number 2 at Lotus.
A better option for Ferrari would have been Carlos Sainz. It would have cost them.. but even RBR has its price.
stefano (@alfa145)
26th March 2017, 17:35
well if you have to make an example instead of a statement, just go with a valid one. Grosjean as an ex team mate of Raikkonen is maybe the least suited for that example. Sainz fits better, but still Raikkonen has some class to deliver, but is rarely showed nowadays
anon
26th March 2017, 11:37
@xtwl, whilst Kimi did beat Grosjean at Lotus, the comparison between the drivers is skewed by the fact that Kimi’s contract specified that he would be the lead driver and would be given preferential treatment over Grosjean.
If you look back at that era, Kimi was always given upgrade packages first and, more often than not, would be at least one upgrade package ahead of Grosjean. In 2013, for example, Grosjean wasn’t even meant to test the aero package intended for Kimi for the opening race in Australia, with Kimi being given exclusive right to use it – it was only because Kimi was ill on one day that the team let Grosjean test it (but, even then, he wasn’t given the fully bodywork package in Australia).
Furthermore, there were times when the team designed upgrade packages which were exclusively for Kimi’s use, ranging from bespoke steering rack and front suspension upgrades for street circuits through to the long wheelbase variant of the E21.
Realistically, it is not surprising that Kimi had an advantage over Grosjean whilst he was there – with the level of preferential treatment he received, he should have. It’s perhaps telling that, once the team started withdrawing that preferential treatment when Kimi announced he was leaving the team, Grosjean started to match and then beat Kimi in the tail end of 2013.
Todfod (@todfod)
26th March 2017, 15:02
Agree completely. Once Lotus threw their weight behind Grosjean in late 2013, he was significantly better than Kimi straight away. I think Kimi did a good job in 2012 for Lotus, but mid 2013 onwards, once Grosjean stopped his erratic driving, he looked like a stronger performer than Kimi. Since 2014 I think Grosjean has only gotten stronger while Kimi has only gotten weaker. In current form, I would have to agree that Romain is a better driver of the two
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
26th March 2017, 11:24
@spafrancorchamps
Grosjean won’t have been a good choice at all. His performance was hardly better than Gutierrez last year. Even though there was a 29 point gap, Grosjean got almost all of his championship points in the first 2 races where Gutierrez retired though no fault of his own. This was when Hass were by far at their most competitive last year. Throughout the rest of the season, it was actually Gutierrez who beat Grosjean more often. Grosjean is very good at times but still has many races where he has very poor performance. I still think Raikonnen will be a fair bit better than him.
Nigel
26th March 2017, 14:23
A great choice for that seat would be Perez.
Some Dude
26th March 2017, 16:46
Exactly.
stefano (@alfa145)
26th March 2017, 17:41
people periodically tend to forget how terribly average Perez did at McLaren….
Nigel
26th March 2017, 20:11
Perhaps you forgot how terrible the Car was and how experienced JB is.
dan
26th March 2017, 22:25
Perez is no Ves or Ham Nigel who was on qucik drivers pace straight away. If Ferrari are really a top 2 team why go for Perez? If Perez was a WC in the making he would have done fine. He is not Ham or Ves or Ric go for one of them or even Bottas if Alo goes to Merc. Button is a good driver who cares for exp it does not mean alot these days Ric is free agent go for him i would love to see Vet vs Ric again. Vet has had it failrly easy in teammates with Kimi and Webber. I do not look forward to a dominant Vet win over Perez whoi is fairly similar to Kimi anway. Ferrari need to go for an exciting line up
KimiRaikkonen1207 (@kimiraikkonen1207)
26th March 2017, 18:24
Raikkonen may be past his prime, but I do think a major reason he has the job is because he is really good in setting up the cars.
dan
26th March 2017, 22:33
@kimiraikonnen1207 Clearly not today….
Kimi to me is fairly overrated when was his prime, his first 5 years? Last year he was actually decent but who knows what Vet was upto, Vet lost a few wins last year. Kimi has been avg to good since 07 imo. Alo would have beat him in 07(Alo curshed Kimi more than Vet had and would have done it in 07 aswell) and so would Hamilton. He was not even much better than Gosjean it is not like he has just got old he as been fairly uninspring for a long time Massa was better than him aswell, it is just Kimi has a WC unlike Massa. He is nowhere near an all time great and he was certainly looking that was way in 03-07
Felipe
27th March 2017, 0:01
Overrated ? While fighting with Schumi and Montoya and stealing races from both of them with an unreliable McLaren ? 1 point behind Schumi in one of the 5 years of Ferrari dominance. Please. Today he is underrated IMO. One of the best if not the best pilot of his generation and can give a run from their money to the new drivers.
Ruben
26th March 2017, 11:13
Dissapointed Kimi was so far off today. But a confident and happy Vettel is nearly unbeatable.
But now that he knows they have a car that can win races from the start, maybe that can bring back the old Kimi again.
The key today was Seb making his ultra softs last. If Shanghai still has high tyre wear, I quite fancy a double podium there.
FLIG (@flig)
26th March 2017, 11:24
I wouldn’t be surprised to find that after the initial struggle to follow podium places, strategy dictated Kimi’s first long stint to hold off Verstappen, who in turn would take some time off Hamilton. Ferrari finally got the strategy right.
Patrick (@paeschli)
26th March 2017, 12:03
Exactly, Kimi was an asset for Ferrari today and people seem to forget that.
JMDan (@danmar)
29th March 2017, 22:29
People think Kimi is a lousy teammate if he doesn’t win. :-)
Dr. Jekyll (@dr-jekyll)
26th March 2017, 12:17
how many other cars overtook a mercedes on track today?
yes Kimi wasn’t anything spectacular and didn’t impress, but it’s far from a failure. And in the same spirit, yes Kimi is not the fastest around (especially in quali) but again, far from a failure
Mashiat (@mashiat)
26th March 2017, 12:50
@dr-jekyll “Far from failure” isn’t good enough for a Ferrari team challenging for victories and the championship too.
Dr. Jekyll (@dr-jekyll)
26th March 2017, 12:57
@mashiat so except from the quali session, you think that Bottas was catchable? (arguably the faster of the mercs on this race day)
vettel pitted, then kimi was left out to cover off ver and in effect ham at the same time, worked beautifully and that’s how far from a failure it was today
Todfod (@todfod)
27th March 2017, 15:18
Agree. The team really don’t give 2 cents about Kimi’s chances to win races, which was pretty obvious in the amateurish fashion in which they handled his qualifying setup. They want him to use him strategically to help Vettel, which is exactly what they did in Melbourne.
Ambrogio
27th March 2017, 14:52
Many time teams prefer to have a good number two (reliable, expert) than mix up with a new one that seems Superfast in an average car, bit maybe noto delibera under top team pressure. It’s not exciting from a fan point of view, but think about McLaren with Coulthard in the 00s, Ferrari with Barrichello or Massa (after the incident), Red Bull with Webber or even Williams with Patrese in the early 90s. McLaren tried with Perez and Magnussen and they didn’t delivered, when Fisichella got the Ferrari was destroyed by Raikkonen, Benetton was changing drivers every year in the Schumacher era…
Ambrogio
27th March 2017, 14:53
*but maybe dont deliver under pressure*
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
26th March 2017, 13:32
After the race I got the strange feeling that even Massa would’ve done better in Kimi’s place.
Kimi’s been very mediocre since his return to Ferrari.
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
26th March 2017, 13:36
He definitely wasn’t on the pace of the leading three in the opening stint but after the pit stop he seemed more comfortable, of course setting the fastest lap.
Nigel
26th March 2017, 14:27
Ferrari should consider getting Perez.
Matt
26th March 2017, 16:36
I don’t get those knocking Kimi and I am neutral as far as he goes.
He has had a lot of bad luck and Ferrari has screwed him on more than a few instances with bad strategies in addition to broken engines.
A note to those who think Ferrari will replace Kimi with a driver who has the capability of beating Vettel – you’re dreaming.
As long as Vettel wins he will call the shots and pick the driver of his liking.
Kimi may be back next year if he has a decent season – Vettel likes him.
Milkromeda (@milkromeda)
26th March 2017, 19:51
Yeah Kimi isn’t “done” as would be suggested. I think they missed his setup a bit from Saturday and it was stated that they know where they missed it.
That being said we’ve had 3 years of gushing about Lewis and how great he is, but let’s be honest, he had a convincingly dominate car with only a teammate to really concern him. I think we need to revisit just how good Vettel is and perhaps now we can hold those two drivers up in a like-for-like comparison. F1 needs that kind of rivalry and those two are the most accomplished on the grid. Vettel and Hamilton get so much criticism from detractors but I think part of that is we are always comparing them to themselves at their best. When they are less than perfect (and vocal about their disatisfaction) the pitchforks come out. We may see an increase in pressure on both drivers this year to perform flawlessly and that is huge because the advantages of dominant cars will no longer cloud the comparison. Interesting times ahead. Mental strength may well be a huge factor this year.