Ferrari targets continuous improvement
Despite a longer than usual break between races, Ferrari Technical Director James Allison does not target the Spanish Grand Prix as a benchmark for the team but instead aims to gradually improve the F14 T at each event.
Allison refutes the idea that the Ferrari was much better suited to China, because it's better performance compared to Bahrain is more likely thanks to the improvements made to the car in between those two races.
“Where did we see the real performance level of the car? Bahrain or China?” he asks. “It’s a mistake to think in those terms, because it wasn’t the same car at the two tracks. Between those two races, we improved the car quite substantially, so not only did the track characteristics change, so did our car.
“We are learning how to get performance out of this new set of regulations and hopefully to make this car more competitive. The key to a successful season is to keep improving your car at every race. If we can do that, bringing a meaningful amount of performance to every one of those races, we will keep seeing steps forward. And that will define what is the true F14 T, not just one single race.”
Allison is aware that progress will only matter when compared to its competitors but is confident that the team's driver pairing will make sure to extract every last bit out of the Ferrari F14 T.
“With Fernando we’ve seen an extraordinary level of performance, scavenging every possible point at every possible opportunity. Kimi is working extremely well with the team, collaborating with the engineers, helping us to drive this car forwards. He has class written all over him and in a very short space of time, I’m sure we will also see the results of that on the track.”
