“During the years I spent at Ferrari”, Allison said in a statement, “at two different stages and covering different roles, I could get to know and appreciate the value of the team and of the people, women and men, which are part of it“. It will obviously be a difference, but in the short-term it doesn’t change that much. “We’re aiming at a podium, I think we should be strong this weekend”.
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Vettel was quick to dismiss question marks over a lack of experience at the team and says he has full-faith in team principal Maurizio Arrivabene.
“There has been a lot in the press, especially about our president and what he expects from us”, Vettel said.
The technical director’s first vehicle past year won three races with Vettel, but Ferrari have made no further progress in catching world champions Mercedes and are yet to win a race this season.
“It’s true that this year we expected a lot more, we had a very good season last year and we wanted to close the gap to practically nothing but so far we haven’t succeeded”.
James Allison has left Ferrari as technical director with immediate effect in what is seen as a joint decision, with Mattia Binotto promoted from head of power units to the new chief technical director. “Things are heading in the right direction”. He knows what he is talking about and is trying to understand what’s been going on for the a year ago in particular. That is what we feel. “He is our leader and we are happy he is with us”.
Despite their struggle to compete with Mercedes, Vettel does not want to give up on 2016 purely to focus on next season’s vehicle.
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The German added: “We are already obviously working flat out on the [20] 17 vehicle – I think everybody is. The rules are very different but still there’s stuff I think we can learn from this year and that’s why I think it would be wrong to forget about this year’s vehicle”.
