Ferrari admit they’ve got their work cut out if they’re to catch up with Mercedes after a relatively subdued performance in Australia.
Whilst Fernando Alonso finished fourth and Kimi Raikkonen seventh, they weren’t on the pace of Mercedes, whilst both McLaren and Williams lapped consistently quicker.
Technical director James Allison described their performance as “not acceptable” and admitted they would need to work hard to catch up.
“While we can take some satisfaction from the reliability shown by the F14T, it is clear that we have our work cut out to improve our car in order to compete on equal terms with the Mercedes team,” he said.
“Our competitiveness was not acceptable in Melbourne. But we intend to fight our way back up the grid with the improvements that we will bring to the car.”
Allison went into more detail as to where the F14T excels and where it needs improving.
“There is plenty about the F14T that is working very well: The starts and the pace in the corners – especially the high speed ones – are particular strong points, but we need to work further on the stability under braking and the speed on the straights.”
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