Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne says the team have "failed" to hit the targets he set the team this season so far, but believes they will come back stronger in 2017.
The Italian team came close to victory at the season opening Australian Grand Prix had it not been for a strategic error during a red flag, but haven't been a factor since then. Mercedes have runn away with the championship and Ferrari have dropped behind Red Bull, which is the only team bar Mercedes to have won a race.
Marchionne set the team the target of race wins this year in the hope they would challenge Mercedes, but at present they sit 203 points adrift with nine races remaining.
Marchionne blames a lack of development for their "failed" season.
"I think we failed the targets, I don’t think there’s a doubt in my mind," he is quoted as saying by James Allen on Saturday.
"It’s no use putting sweeteners on the stuff, the car isn’t there and I don’t think we developed it. I think we started well in Australia, I think that we failed in developing the car during the season which is due to a variety of reasons."
Marchionne is however confident they can turn things around next season when major regulation changes take hold.
"I feel quite comfortable that this team are quite capable of turning the fate of the ‘Scuderia’ around. Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of season left," he added.
"Let them finish the season, I think we’ll do the best we can for the rest of 2016 and the fight starts in 2017 with the first race."
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