Change underway at Ferrari, says Mattiacci

[July 07, 2014]  By Alan Baldwin
 
 LONDON (Reuters) - Ferrari will be a different Formula One team next year with changes already being made at Maranello, principal Marco Mattiacci said after Sunday's British Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso finished only sixth for the Italian team at Silverstone while Kimi Raikkonen crashed out on the opening lap of a race won by Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes.

Asked about the future of Ferrari engine head Luca Marmorini, with some reports in Italy last week indicating he had left the team, Mattiacci refused to comment.

"I don't want to point to any individual. We are redesigning the team, we are reinforcing the team," the boss, who replaced Stefano Domenicali at the helm in April, told reporters. "I don't make comments about individuals.

"We don't have to make any announcements," he continued. "The best announcements are results... we are not happy to be sixth. The weekend was bittersweet, a lot of emotion and positive things but we are not happy to be sixth.
 

"Starting from here we need to prepare a different team for 2015. Do we need to do an announcement? No. Do we need to improve? Continuous improvement, yes. That is our position."

Ferrari are third in the championship but now only three points clear of Williams, who might have ended the day ahead had Brazilian Felipe Massa's car not been badly damaged when Raikkonen crashed out.

Mattiacci praised Alonso's race from 16th on the grid, and Raikkonen emerging unscathed from his big accident, as positives.

Alonso, a double world champion, has been on the podium just once this season while 2007 champion Raikkonen has finished no higher than seventh.

Ferrari are 220 points behind leaders Mercedes in the constructors' championship with 10 races remaining.

The fire and ice driver pairing had been a talking point before the season but they have instead been also-rans with the title battle now a duel between Mercedes team mates Hamilton and championship leader Nico Rosberg.

Mattiacci said Ferrari were working hard to improve "what is improvable" on the car.

"We have brought a lot of aerodynamics improvement in the last races that found a positive effect on the track so this is a good starting point," he said.

(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

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