Ferrari: Räikkönen Confident, Alonso Methodical
For Ferrari, the first Grand Prix of the season was mixed. The driver duo, with three world championship titles, remains optimistic about Scuderia's chances of winning the 2014 championship.
Respectively 4th and 7th at the 2014 Australian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen know that there is still a long way to go before being crowned champions of the season. For them, if Ferrari is not at the expected level, there is significant room for improvement.
Kimi Räikkönen, potential to unlock
After a first Grand Prix weekend marked by errors and electrical malfunctions, Kimi Räikkönen remains confident in Ferrari’s resilience. Quoted by Crash.net, he states: “If we can run a whole race weekend without any issues, I’m sure we can be much stronger. Here [in Melbourne], it was like that [electrical problems on both cars, editor’s note] and hopefully, we can sort everything out before the next race.”
The native of Espoo believes that one should not worry too much about the competition. According to him, the team from Maranello could make up for its delay by making fewer mistakes: « It’s a bit early to say, but before [Australia] we thought we knew roughly where we were; obviously, we are not where we thought we were. On the car and engine side, we probably need to improve, I think a little bit everywhere.
But simply being well-positioned throughout the weekend without making any mistakes will already make a big difference.
Fernando Alonso, patient and methodical
On his side, for Autosport, Fernando Alonso holds back his prediction regarding the final outcome of the season: « It’s only the first race, no one can say who will win or lose the championship. »
Furthermore, he believes that it’s important to differentiate and progress step by step: « We must stay calm in order to do better next time and just try to understand where we need to improve and where we appear strong. »
The Spanish driver acknowledges Mercedes’ competitiveness. However, he believes Ferrari has enough room for improvement, relying on a possible misstep from the star brand: « Mercedes looked very strong during the winter tests and they were very strong here [in Melbourne], they won because they deserved it. At the moment, they are a bit ahead of everyone; we need to improve to close the gap with them and hopefully, we will surpass them. »
