Team Principal Maurizio Arrivabene wants Ferrari to adopt Mercedes’ winning “habit” in the coming years believing the mental approach of expecting over anticipating is a key to the German manufacturer’s success.
2017 saw the Scuderia make a significant leap towards their first championship success in a decade, using the major changes in car design to move level with Mercedes at the front of the grid, claiming five wins with Sebastian Vettel in the process.
Ultimately, however, maintaining both pace and reliability proved the difference as two engines problems in Malaysia and Japan following the start crash in Singapore saw the season swing hugely in Lewis Hamilton’s favour and he would take the title with two races to spare.
But now with a taste for victories, Arrivabene wants that to become the norm for the Italian team, identifying it as one the most impressive aspects of Mercedes’ run of success.
“I think, how you tend to respect the team that have won four Constructors’ Championships and four Drivers’ Championships, it’s normal that they are strong,” he told ESPN. “For that, I have a lot of respect but it could be even better if we’re able next year to fight with them and finally to win.
“I think one of the strengths of Mercedes, apart from the brand they’re representing, how the team is organised, is also their habit to win. Sometimes you are going to have a pole position and it becomes an event, pole position must become a habit and not an event. This is what I mean for a habit to win.
“It doesn’t have to be perceived as an event, the victory, or the pole position. It must be the natural result of the work that you are doing. In this way, I have a lot of respect for them but in this way, we know what we have to do for the future in our side.”
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Now sitting as a regular contender at the front of the grid, the key for Arrivabene and Ferrari is to ensure they can maintain it over a full season – having won more times in the first six races than they did in the proceeding 14.
That fact isn’t lost on the team boss either, who admits progress, no matter how great, is only measured by the amount of silverware in the cabinet.
“Of course the number of pole positions and so on they are important somehow but the most important is the championship,” he said.
“The good number that we have at the moment is demonstrating the good job by the overall team but the fact that we were not able to win the championship means that it’s not enough, so we have to push forward to next year to do it better.”
