Ferrari is the star of the summer break
Ferrari’s second win of the season has been lighting up the media as the uncertainty around the team's last word champion Kimi Räikkönen’s future is still persistent.
Ferrari started the year with a surprising victory in the second race with Sebastian Vettel behind the wheel and a second victory was about to get real when Kimi Räikkönen showed a mesmerizing pace during the Bahrain GP and only missed the victory by a tiny margin.
The fabled Italian team then suffered a slump when rival Mercedes introduced an upgraded power unit in Canada on reliability grounds. The team’s hands were also tied by Pirelli’s ultra conservative tyre choices.
In Hungary Ferrari was experiencing lots of problems until they emerged as the actual pace-dictating team in the race. The Prancing Horse was about to score an easy one-two finish until Kimi Räikkönen’s MGU-K failed. Nevertheless, Sebastian Vettel won his second race in scarlet.
Experts are surprised by the team’s form. Former Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger hails the squad, and emphasized that the Vettel-Ferrari duo was always going to be a real deal.
"They have made a big step forward compared to last year and I didn’t expect that," said the Austrian legend.
As a former boss of Vettel’s at Toro Rosso, Berger told La Gazzetta dello Sport that "I always thought Sebastian would be a perfect fit with Ferrari".
"He has the German mentality, is very organised and hard working. Above all he is a winner. But I repeat: I did not expect that Ferrari would be able to win races already this season," Berger told the Italian daily, "given how difficult last season was."
He insisted that also Kimi Räikkönen was doing a good job until his retirement.
"Both drivers started the race very well," said Berger. "I thought then that they had a chance for a one-two. Great start, no mistakes, and they led not because Mercedes had problems but because Ferrari was fast.
"Unfortunately Kimi Raikkonen had his technical problem but Ferrari did its job brilliantly.
"I am sure Maurizio Arrivabene is coping perfectly with the job of trying to take Ferrari back to the top, as at Maranello there is now a good atmosphere again," he added.
Also on the drivers’ market it is Ferrari which holds all the aces.
The Italians were rumoured to say farewell to their last champion Kimi Räikkönen and sign his fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas. The rumours were, however, swirling in the Hungarian paddock that Williams would only release their young talent if Ferrari paid a respectable amount of money for the release. The fact that Felipe Massa overshadowed his team mate didn’t help Bottas’ reputation either.
The latest report, by Italy’s Motorionline, suggests that Ferrari may actually retain Kimi Räikkönen for another year.
