Ferrari fighting talk despite engine woes

Editor

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has said the team "continue to believe in ourselves" after being encouraged by Sebastian Vettel's race pace.

The Scuderia found themselves in more trouble in Malaysia after Vettel and Raikkonen both encountered engine problems. The former was unable to take part in qualifying, while Raikkonen suffered a DNS on Sunday with the same problem.

But Vettel came through from the back of the grid to finish P4 and, although a bizarre post-race crash with Lance Stroll leaves him with very likely prospect of a grid penalty due a gearbox change, Arrivabene believes there is still plenty of fighting spirit left at Ferrari.

"All weekend, it was clear we had a very competitive car," Arrivabene said.

"That could be seen from our pace in free practice, Kimi's front row in qualifying and Seb's amazing fight back in the race, when he went from last to fourth.

However, it all added up to our hardest race of the year, as we had to confront problems that we will now analyse in depth.

"They prevented Sebastian from qualifying and Kimi from even taking the start.

"The team remained focused on its job throughout, putting in a great deal of effort working in the garage and then implementing an impeccable strategy.

"It's further cause to continue to believe in ourselves: we have the car, the men, the drivers, the means and the spirit to fight all the way to the finish."

Vettel is 36 points behind World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton with five races to go, while Ferrari are 118 points adrift of Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship.