DECEMBER 17, 2018

Team incidents hurt Ferrari in 2018

Maurizio Arrivabene thinks a series of incidents hurt Ferrari's charge for the 2018 title.

Sebastian Vettel, United States GP 2018
© RV Press

Maurizio Arrivabene thinks a series of incidents hurt Ferrari's charge for the 2018 title.

Some think the biggest problem with this year's failed challenge was driver mistakes made by Sebastian Vettel.

Team boss Arrivabene agrees that "driver mistakes" were an issue, but he said that is also too simplistic an analysis.

"We had the incident involving our mechanic Cigarini, then our president, who wanted me in Ferrari, passed away, leaving a big gap. Then on the eve of Austin we lost one of our engineers," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"So many things outside our control happened which went beyond racing. It is my wish that luck will help us a little more in the coming season," the Italian added.

So Arrivabene rejected speculation that Ferrari needs a personnel "revolution" in order to win the title in 2019.

"In arranging the team going forward I am working more with a foil than a sword," he said, "even if focusing on a young man like Leclerc is in itself a revolution."

(GMM)