Marchionne: New Ferrari 'huge step forward'

Mar.1 - Sergio Marchionne has broken Ferrari's media silence to declare the Italian team "optimistic" ahead of the 2017 world championship.

The fabled Maranello outfit is in the midst of a bizarre self-imposed news blackout as it tests in Barcelona, where the 2017 car is so far appearing a match for the Mercedes.

"We are optimistic," president Marchionne is quoted by Italian media, "but I don't know if this machine is able to win the championship.

"But we will not be ashamed this year, and that is important," he added.

When asked specifically about the 2017 car, Marchionne was quoted by La Repubblica as answering: "It's more powerful, for sure. From what I saw yesterday, I'm happy.

"The forecasts that we did have been fulfilled. The behaviour of the car on the track is in line with expectations. It is a huge step forward compared to where we were last year," he added.

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Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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