Arrivabene targets two wins for Ferrari in 2015

2015 F1 season

Posted on

| Written by

New Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has set his team the goal of winning two races this year with its new car, the SF-15T, which was launched today.

Ferrari endured a win-less campaign in 2014 – the first time it has done so in 21 years.

Arrivabene said his target was “realistic” given the team’s performance slump last year. “Nobody has the magic to change things when things are unchangeable,” he said.

“We find the car, the car was ready actually December of [2014[], and we apply certain modifications that in our opinion, are quite interesting.

“With that, I don’t want to say that we are going to win the world championship, but for sure we are committed at least to win two races.”

Arrivabene agreed the new car is a step forward from its predecessor in one respect – it is more pleasing to the eye.

“Enzo Ferrari said a long times ago the best car is the winning car,” Arrivabene remarked. “Last year we have an ugly car. It was a non-winning car on top of this.”

“I like the [new] car in terms of the aesthetics, I don’t know about the performance, but it’s really sexy.”

2015 F1 season

Browse all 2015 F1 season articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

24 comments on “Arrivabene targets two wins for Ferrari in 2015”

  1. Wow, their ambition clearly knows no limits!

    1. Have respect for the oldest team in F1’s entire history. Just a small reminder here; if it wasn’t for the unbeatable 5 consecutive wins Ferrari had with Michael from 2000 till 2005, today we’d have a completely different story and different attitude to change things. Changes started being made only to stop Ferrari’s dominance. Look at the sports today…..it’s rediculed around most of the parts in the world. It’s become a gimmick……praise Ferrari for F1’s existance.

      1. You mean 4? 2000-2004. And you mean those 4 that FOM and FIA did everything so Ferrari can win. That was the time of the known “Ferrari International Assistance”.
        And no i will never have respect for them. I respect only ones who contest fairly not have a tone of privileges and do everything they can to limit the ability of others to contest with them.
        Ferrari can win for 200 years in a row and it will still mean nothing.

        1. @solo
          Anyone who believes in the term “Ferrari International Assistance” forfeits their right to be taken seriously.

  2. Bit worrying that Renault are saying they halved the gap to Mercedes, and Ferrari are only expecting two wins.

    Hopefully they are just playing down their chances.

    1. Only? Personally I would rather be surprised if they won any

      1. me too…..

        1 win will be a big big deal……

  3. I’d personally be surprised if they managed two podiums.

    1. If it hadn’t been for some Alonso magic in China and Hungary, Ferrari wouldn’t even have scored any podiums last year, let alone wins.

    2. As a long time Ferrari fan. I’m be very happy if they get those 2 podiums.

  4. Hm, so Renault thinks Red Bull is going to win 5 next year, Ferrari think they will win 2 leaving Mercedes to win “only” 12? Not convinced.

    1. @bascb for sure there’s no room for Mclaren!

  5. I just don’t see the point in spouting this empty nonsense. Everybody has ‘a target’ of winning as much as they can. Or is he going to stop after 2 wins? He’s just setting the team up for a sense of failure if by some miracle they achieve one win.

    But if he stopped to look at who they’ll have to beat to make even a podium he ought to be grateful for just a couple of those, in reality. Everyone will be more reliable, so chances are it’ll have to be done on pace.

    1. @lockup Hehe. “That’s it boys, roll on 2016, we won two races. Like we even care about the other 17!”

    2. Ferrari always start with the “Will be fighting for the championship thing”. So saying two wins it’s actually uncommon for them and if they achieve anything more than that then he will look awesome for things that will be looked as disappointment if he was saying “we aim for the championship”.

  6. I’m actually happy to hear something like this from the new team principle. One of the things that has driven me mad the past few years is the lack of realistic expectations or honesty in any answer Domenicali, di Montezemolo or the team at large has given regarding the team’s performance since 2009. It was always the case of “we expect to fight for the championship, we expect to win loads, forza Ferrari!”. It was the same every year, regardless of previous performance. It made the upper management look either ridiculously entitled and arrogant or completely delusional. I suspect it was a bit of both.

    I’m happy that Arrivabene has set a concrete target for his team. He’s not speaking of championships or how Ferrari should be winning because of their mystique or history. Compared to Ferrari pre-season statements in recent years two wins is a humble and modest target! Hopefully it reflects a change in the operation of Ferrari at the highest level, that does away with the arrogance and whining and just makes efforts to challenge their competitors. I still think it is a tough goal to meet, but I’ll be delighted if they do.

    1. @colossal-squid Well, you can’t blame Luca di Montezemelo or Stefano Dominicalli for stating that they are gunning for the championship every year from 2010-2014. I mean, in 2010, they came pretty close to winning the driver’s championship, and in 2011, well, the Red Bull was the class of the field but the Ferrari was still decent. In 2012, they had a pretty bad car, but still nearly won the championship, and in 2013, they started the year with arguably the best package, before slipping back dramatically. And considering their statements were before any testing and comparisons to other teams, and because they didn’t just come off a winless season in which they were 1.5 seconds off the pace with limited development.

  7. I’d say this is a reasonable balance of being realistic and optimistic – both things an F1 team should be.

    Ultimately we can only make judgements on this when we see how the car and power unit perform.

  8. Fritz Oosthuizen (@)
    30th January 2015, 19:30

    F1 is IF spelled backwards. That is all I have to say.

    1. F1 is IF spelled backwards. That is all I have to say.

      No, it’s 1F. Which isn’t a word either.

  9. Mr Arrivabene, that is completely absurd, your name will be non Arriva anywhere soon.

  10. Well .. Ferrari’s 1st win of 2015 was finding the loophole in the engine development and freezing regulations.

    So, I guess the target is just one race win for the season

  11. I am sure that I can bet a bottle of Jack Daniels and win, if I say “Ferrari will not get a single win the next season”.
    They have to beat Mercedes (impossible), Red Bull (nearly impossible) Williams (nearly impossible), McLaren (well, because there is Alonso), and Lotus-RenaultMercedes.

Comments are closed.