- Ferrari
Ferrari still waiting for Mattiacci lift - Alonso
Fernando Alonso says Ferrari is still waiting for a lift from the arrival of Marco Mattiacci as the new team principal continues to adapt to life at Maranello.
Mattiacci, who had no prior experience in F1 after moving across from Ferrari's car sales division, replaced Stefano Domenicali after his resignation on April 14. At the time Alonso said a change would not happen overnight but he still thinks Ferrari can look forward to see an improvement soon once Mattiacci is comfortable in his new role.
"Not much to be honest, but I answered the same in Barcelona," he said when asked about how big the difference was under Mattiacci. "I don't think this is going to happen soon. He came and is still learning about the key situations in the team and the Formula One environment and the weekends, plus in the factory there are a lot of things to learn to get some experience for the decisions which at the moment he will not take.
"On our side, the drivers, the mechanics and engineers, we have the meetings at the same time and the free practice at the same time and we don't see any big difference. When I go to Maranello to work and to have some meetings and preparations, and to run in the simulator, these areas have not had any change in this last month. As I said it was probably not expected to change in the first month as he does not have the experience yet."
Alonso admits he is buoyed by the fact that Monaco could disguise the shortcomings of the Ferrari and leave a good result in the hands of its drivers.
"The car has been very tricky to drive. We arrive at a tricky circuit with a unique layout and some risky points so we need to see which team can adapt the car a little bit better here. In a normal circuit an update worth two tenths or three tenths is not so important.
"It can give you half a second or seven tenths if you have confidence in the car with zero updates but good set-up and good preparation it can be a lot better."
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