Best race of the year so far – Ferrari

In its official race report, Scuderia Ferrari described yesterday’ British Grand Prix as the “best race of the year so far” after having claimed victory on home soil for the British teams.

Ferrari broke Mercedes’ stunning winning streak in yesterday’s British Grand Prix in Silverstone. The Anglo-German squad was unbeaten for five years thanks to Nico Rosberg’s win in 2013 which was then followed by four consecutive triumphs for home hero Lewis Hamilton.

The track where aerodynamic efficiency plays a big role due to the abundance of high-speed corners is also a power-hungry circuit with its long straights. With the aerodynamic changes at the beginning of the last year, cars generate even more downforce, increasing the time spent at full throttle. This layout aided by Pirelli’s hard compound and special, 0.4mm thinner tyres were deemed to put Mercedes into a league of their own.

In fact, Mercedes was miles ahead of Red Bull and the rest of the field, but Ferrari was firmly hanging on its championship rival both through the qualifying session and the race. After Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen qualified within a tenth of a second in Saturday’s qualifying session, the German took over the lead at the start and eventually won the race ahead of Lewis Hamilton while Kimi Räikkönen grabbed the last spot of the rostrum.

Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene was particularly happy with the fact that his team defeated its rivals on their own territory.

“This was a well deserved win, mainly down to a great job from the team at the track and back in Maranello and I congratulate them. Winning here is not easy as England is home to the Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren, Force India and Williams and others. That makes winning here all the more special.“

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel was also delighted to see his team breaking the misfortune at Silverstone after struggles of recent years.

“Every race is a team race, but today it was even more important for us to win here, because the last few years had been very difficult to us. This year we have proved to be strong every time on every track so far. The most important thing is that the car is strong and fast. The new updates that we brought here have worked very well through the whole weekend. In qualifying we were just a little bit slower, but during the race it was just great.”

The German hailed his team for the great strategy and the quick response when the safety car opened up the possibility for a second pit-stop.

“The Safety Car made everything more exciting, but even more tricky. However, the strategy with the tires was great and at the end we got a fantastic win as a team. I really enjoyed this race and I am happy for me and for the team. Also, the start was very important for us and it was great. Now it’s important to keep working. I say thanks to the whole team for this win!”

Kimi Räikkönen who tangled with Lewis Hamilton in turn 3 on the first lap had to serve a ten-second penalty, but came back at the end of the race to occupy the last place on the podium, showing an abundance of overtaking manoeuvres. The Finn, however, said that the turbulence made it really tough to come close to front running cars, especially the wake of the Red Bull cars were hard to overcome.

„When I was on my own the speed was ok, but once I was behind them, their wake seemed to affect my car a lot more than the Mercedes did; I was losing a lot of downforce and that upset the balance of the car. We were quite a bit faster, but it was really tricky for us to follow them. It was a close fight for quite a lot of times, at the beginning and at the end of the race. Finally we managed to pass them and then I overtook one of the Mercedes. It was not an easy day, but I gave my best and made a decent comeback.”

Arrivabene revealed that Ferrari don’t get carried away by recent successes and commences the preparation for the forthcoming German Grand Prix.

“The SF71H confirmed its strengths as it has done on other tracks already and the Pirelli tyres were a perfect match for our strategy. Tomorrow we will have our debrief and right from the afternoon we will start preparing for Sebastian’s home race, the German GP,” concluded the Italian.