- Malaysian GP - Race
Ferrari like 'a perfect Italian watch' - Arrivabene
Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene never doubted Sebastian Vettel could be a contender in Malaysia but he says Ferrari must not get carried away with one victory.
A perfectly executed strategy and a flawless drive from four-time world champion Vettel gave Ferrari its first win since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, confirmation of the progress shown over the winter. Arrivabene, who has taken Ferrari back to the top step of the podium in just two races as team boss, was impressed by how efficiently the team conducted the operation from the pit wall.
"Yesterday when we had qualifying I was part happy and part not," Arrivabene said, referring to the timing mishap which saw Kimi Raikkonen drop out of Q2. "But the car of Seb was up there. Normally I don't know why people in this world are not talking very openly, so this morning we had the brief. During the brief I saw the strategy and one slide after the other, the conversation with the engineer, then suddenly the race was becoming very clear and I said, 'Ha ha, here we can do something interesting'.
"I have to say the discipline of the guys was amazing and the job of Seb was unbelievable. I have to congratulate also Kimi because he caught bad luck but still, from last position, was able to do a good job. During the race I was thinking about the briefing of this morning and I was looking at the discipline of the guys, drivers, engineers, and how they were working like a Swiss watch. But in this case it was a perfect Italian watch!"
During the winter Arrivabene predicted two wins for Ferrari in 2015 but he is determined not to get carried away despite achieving half of that tally in just two races.
"We have to be realistic. I said at the beginning of the season, two victories. Now we won one race, we have one of two, and sometimes when victories come too early it could be an advantage or a disadvantage. So we keep our feet on the ground. I think Mercedes is super strong. As we've said many times, we'll follow our programme.
"Some people were asking me why I wasn't showing any emotions and I told you why - I was thinking about the brief this morning, I was looking at the data on the screen and going step by step. As much as the race went on I was sure. I got a bit of emotion for the guys - for the two drivers, for Seb, when he was screaming into the headphones, but mainly for the guys at Maranello because in the last months they have been working like hell… unbelievable."
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