Arrivabene praises Ferrari’s partners, including Shell
After the chequered flag fell in the Canadian Grand Prix, Ferrari’s team principal Maurizio Arrivabene did not hesitate to thank the team’s partners for their continuous support, work and commitment they show towards the fabled Italian marque.
Ferrari broke the curse yesterday with its victory in the Canadian Grand Prix, ending a 14-year-long winless drought. Sebastian Vettel scored the first triumph for the Italian team since Michael Schumacher’s 2004 win. The German’s pole position on Saturday ended an even longer unsuccessful streak because Ferrari has not managed to qualify on the top spot since the 2001 Canadian event.
Over the course of the Canadian Grand Prix, Ferrari introduced its second-specification power unit in Sebastian Vettel’s car, debuted a new set of aerodynamic upgrades including modified bargeboards and got the latest fuel of its long-time partner Shell.
Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene praised the work of the whole team, but also highlighted the loyal commitment of its partners.
”Without a doubt, today’s win is down to a very good car and a great drive from Seb. The team, both at the track and back in Maranello, has worked hard and methodically, preparing the car, which right from Saturday’s qualifying proved to be very quick. The tyres responded very well to the strategies we devised. It’s a shame that Kimi’s mistake in qualifying affected his whole race. There is still a long way to go in the championship and we have to continue giving it our all. I take this opportunity to thank our fans and customers who never fail to show us their support and our sponsors and technical partners, especially Shell, for their support in our development programme.”
Sebastian Vettel who scored the 50th win of his career, celebrated a special day, remembering Ferrari’s former great drivers’ success. Gilles Villeneuve won the Canadian Grand Prix with Ferrari on 8 October 1978 while Michael Schumacher scored Ferrari’s last triumph in Montreal in 2004.
”This win is very important for our tifosi and for our team, today is a special day. 40 years ago Gilles won here, then 14 years ago it was Michael and I was thinking of that today. At the start I tried to build up a margin, I was happy with my first lap and then the safety car came out and I had to start over again. During my last 10 laps I prayed that my car would not develop a problem until the end! Points are always important but today this win means a lot and not just in terms of Championship. The season is still so long and there are many races ahead. The main thing is that our car is strong and stays like that, so that we can fight,” said the Heppenheim-born quadruple champion.
Kimi Räikkönen rued his mistake on his final lap of the thrilling qualifying session when he clipped the grass out of turn two which ended his final shot at a better starting position.
“Yesterday’s mistake in qualifying did not put ourselves in a good position for the race. Overtaking was very difficult here; I tried to get ahead of Hamilton after my pit stop, but it did not work out. Then It was even difficult to get close enough to him to open the DRS. It was a surprise, because on this track you would expect to see overtaking and fights, instead it was a similar story to two weeks ago in Monaco. The race was boring and not much happened. We decided to stay out a little bit longer on our first set of tyres and I don’t think that cost us any position: it was our only option to try something different.”
