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Laurence Edmondson wrote:">Ferrari can regularly beat Mercedes - Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen believes Ferrari can get to the point where it will be able to regularly beat Mercedes to race victories.

Mercedes dominance was questioned at the second round of the season in Malaysia when Sebastian Vettel beat both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg before normal service was resumed at the Chinese Grand Prix last weekend. Raikkonen believes Ferrari has made very good progress over the winter and will get to a point where it can win at a variety of circuits.

"I don't see a reason why not," Raikkonen said. "We have made big gains and we will make big gains during this year. Obviously everybody will improve so it depends what the rest are doing, so it definitely shows we are going in the right way and doing the right things.

"It is just being patient, we need time, we cannot make miracles overnight. Sebastian showed we can win, but it depends, one circuit is better for one team and the next could be a different story. We need to be up there when something happens to them, or the conditions change. I really feel, as for speed, we will get there to regularly beat them."

Raikkonen said Ferrari knows where its weaknesses are in comparison to Mercedes.

"People didn't expect us to make such big gains, so we are realistic. It is not ideal where we finished. We want to be winning at the front every weekend, but we have to be patient. At the beginning of the race we were close, then they pulled away, but I think more or less we know the reasons for that. Like I said things are now like this, but we will keep improving."

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Staff wrote:">Seb on the front row. Vettel second fastest, Raikkonen fourth

Sakhir, 18 April – The SF15-Ts of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen will start the Bahrain Grand Prix from second and fourth spots on the grid respectively. At the end of today’s qualifying at the Sakhir circuit, where the temperature was around the 25 degree mark, pole position went to Lewis Hamilton who posted a 1.32.571 in his Mercedes. To claim his front row slot, Vettel did a 1.32.982, beating Nico Rosberg (1.33.129) in the other Mercedes. Raikkonen was fourth fastest with a 1.33.227 and therefore starts from the second row.

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 wrote:">Ferrari set for new engine specification in Barcelona

Ferrari is preparing to unleash more horse power in Spain. Reports are doing the rounds that the Maranello team will debut an upgrade for its turbo V6 'power unit' in June for the race in Canada. But Germany's Bild newspaper said a new specification will in fact make its bow in Barcelona in just under three weeks' time.

The report said it could boost Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen's 2015 car to the tune of 20-30 horse power, giving the SF15-T "almost as much power as Mercedes". Team boss Maurizio Arrivabene told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport: "I want to thank all the people in Maranello who have been part of this work."

"It has been not only about developing the engine, but every single part of the car, realising in three months what normally would have taken six. I do not know if we will catch Mercedes, but I definitely like the idea of being able to put pressure on them," he added.

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James Allen wrote:">Could Raikkonen have won Bahrain...

.........So what does this tell us about the racing we can expect in the season ahead?

First it shows that Ferrari has a very strong race car and a new strategy and engineering team, which is already impressively cohesive and disciplined and has a mandate from the boss to be aggressive. This is enormously encouraging for the races ahead.

One of the reasons why the Ferrari is such a strong race car is because it has an aggressive engine mode, with a strong battery and an efficient compressor, which it is able to use all race long, whereas Mercedes has to dip into a more conservative mode at times during races. This gives Ferrari a chance and means that over a race distance there is now little to choose between the two power units. Qualifying is still Mercedes’ forte, which gives it a track position and thus a strategic headstart. But if Ferrari keeps up the current relative development rate then we could have a championship fight on our hands.

Raikkonen’s middle stint on medium tyres showed that in warmer temperatures, Ferrari can match Mercedes for pace on the the harder tyres. This was not the case in the cooler conditions in China a week earlier, where Mercedes pulled away.

It also shows us that the cat and mouse strategy game around undercutting, depleting the ERS to do so and all the associated tactics, makes for some great racing.

Sometimes in F1 race strategy has been used instead of overtaking, here and hopefully often this season, it has been used with overtaking as one of its by-products.

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Staff wrote:">From Maranello to PortAventura

Tarragona, 7 May –

There’ll be a little piece of Maranello in the foundations of FerrariLand in PortAventura, the first theme park in Europe based on the Prancing Horse marque. A brick from Enzo Ferrari’s house was the piece in question at today’s official ceremony to launch this ambitious project, which will see the theme park come to life in a special area within the resort, which is situated on the Costa Dorada, around an hour’s drive from Barcelona.

Officiating at the ceremony, along with the President of the Government of Catalunya, Artur Mas and the President of the PortAventura Resort, Arturo Mas-Sardà, were Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal, Maurizio Arrivabene and Sebastian Vettel. The German driver arrived at the wheel of a Ferrari California T and answered a few questions, most of them on the topic of this weekend’s race in Montmelo, before carrying out the actual laying of the first stone.

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Staff wrote:">Unpredictable Monaco

“It’s hard to say how the weekend will be” said Kimi in the press conference that marked the official start of the weekend in Monaco. “It’s a different place and with different tyres but our car has been good everywhere so far, and I expect us to be reasonably strong.

To win here you must have a good package, we are in a much better condition than last year, but we are not still where we want to be, it’s bit too early for this. We’ll do our best to be there and fight. Here you can be fastest but many things can go against you and affect your result. We’ll try to have a solid weekend, put things together and stay out of the problems. We’ll see how it goes.”

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Staff wrote:">Where the driver still makes the difference

“Monaco is a very challenging track” says Sebastian Vettel at Monaco’s Wednesday press meeting. “We know that here qualifying is very important you have to do the perfect lap otherwise the Sunday can be difficult.

In Barcelona we expected to be closer and of course we cannot be happy with the gap in front, while I’m reasonably happy with the result; we made some step forward but for some reason we underperformed. We are confident this is the right way to go and we decide to keep the new parts in the car. We try to understand as much as possible from all the data we collect in the test so that we can try here something if we still have some doubts and then we will see where we are.

The track is a bit tricky because is a street track and a short one. Compared to other track, I feel the driver can still make the difference to some extent. Clearly we are not the favourites here, but there’s always a chance for something to happen, and we have a car that is working generally everywhere.”

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Staff wrote:">Monaco Grand Prix - Working on set-up

Seb fourth, Kimi eighth in first free practice session

Monaco, 21 May

In the first free practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen set the fourth (1.19.134) and eighth (1.19.679) fastest times respectively. Lewis Hamilton was quickest with a 1.18.750 in the Mercedes..........

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Staff wrote:">Monaco Grand Prix - Rain stops play

Ferrari 3rd and 4th fastest in FP2

Monaco, 21 May

There wasn’t much track action in the second free practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix. Just 15 minutes in, the red flags came out and later the rain arrived. The cars all had to pit following Roberto Mehri’s accident in the Manor, at the exit to the tunnel and after that, the cars returned to the track in the final minutes of the session, with the weather barely better...........

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Staff wrote:">Raikkonen: Pretty good feeling so far

Kimi Raikkonen:

“The feeling with the car today was pretty ok, obviously there are some small issues but they are more related to the tyres: it’s difficult to make them warm up, especially the front tyres, but overall it’s not too bad. In order to get the tyres working, it would have been nice to see how the Supersofts work, anyway I think they are much easier. Due to the rain we couldn’t learn as much I wanted, but it was the same for everybody. We did the most that we could in these conditions. For Saturday we have to see how the weather will be, we still have some work to do on the car and make sure the tyres work well, then we’ll go from there and do the best in qualifying and in the race.”

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Staff wrote:">Vettel: A useful couple of laps

Sebastian Vettel:

“When it rains it’s the same for everyone, you don’t tend to run. Today the car felt ok, we wanted to test a couple more things but time went out. We have to wait and see until Saturday to understand more and we’ll only find out on Sunday how close we are to Mercedes. I think we can’t take Monaco as a reference, it’s for the nature of the track that everybody is a bit closer, but for sure I hope to reduce the gap even more. This is why everybody went out in the end of the session. There was no reason to do more laps, we don’t have unlimited tires and if the rain comes again we need them, even if the forecast looks dry. It‘s a shame we could not get an idea on the Supersoft tires but I think we will see on Saturday.”

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Staff wrote:">A Ferrari on top in final free practice

Vettel quickest in FP3

Monaco, 23 May

Sebastian Vettel posted the quickest time in this morning’s free practice in his Ferrari, as Formula 1 track action resumed after yesterday’s traditional rest day in the Principality. In the final session prior to qualifying, the German did a 1.16.143 in his SF15-T, to finish ahead of the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg (1.16.361) and Lewis Hamilton (1.16.705.)
Kimi Raikkonen only managed 11 laps on his way to setting the sixth fastest time of 1.17.401. On his Supersoft run, he touched the barrier at Ste. Devote puncturing the left rear tyre.

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Staff wrote:">Sebastian third, Kimi sixth

Vettel just behind Mercedes. Raikkonen doesn’t quite hit the spot

Monaco 23 May

Sebastian Vettel will start the Monaco Grand Prix from third on the grid, while in the other SF15-T, Kimi Raikkonen lines up sixth. Qualifying was run here in Monaco under cloudy skies with a high of 18 degrees and Lewis Hamilton waited until the very last moment to take pole in the Mercedes with a time of 1.15.098. Vettel secured his spot on the second row with a 1.15.849, with Nico Rosberg second in the other Mercedes in 1.15.440. Raikkonen set the sixth fastest time of 1.16.427 and will start from Row 3.

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Staff wrote:">Kimi: We’ll pay the price

Kimi Raikkonen:

“I don’t think that the accident of this morning affected my qualifying. My car has been working pretty well so far, apart from the fact that it was hard to get the tires working . You need few good laps to make a time and today in my last run I was too slow behind a Toro Rosso and decided to come in.

Today we had the speed but not the chance of doing a clean lap. It was not a very good day and obviously tomorrow we are going to pay a big price. Tomorrow we’ll see what we can do, we’ll try to make a good start and go from there, even if it won’t be easy.

Here there is a big chance to remain stuck behind other cars for the whole race and overtaking is really difficult: that’s why the result of today is very disappointing.”

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Staff wrote:">Sebastian: The Supersoft enigma

Sebastian Vettel:

“I am happy with third place. Today it looked like everybody was struggling to get the tyres to working temperatures – which is funny, because they call them Supersofts – and the Mercedes cars were the ones which probably suffered the least from this problem, so this is why the gap looks bigger.

The rain on Thursday didn’t affect us so much, as it was the same for everybody, today’s low temperature probably did not help, but we are not looking for excuses. Tomorrow I will be starting from third on the grid, on the inside line.

Everything can happen and I hope to have a good pull-off; it could be possible to jump one of the cars ahead, two is more difficult, but then Lewis, too, should have a good start, otherwise he may be blocking the way. The gap to our contenders is still there, but we have more to win than we have to lose.”