TALKING POINT HONEYMOON OVER
S
ebastian Vettel is starting feeling the
pressure as Ferrari’s 2016 title push
flounders, according to the Italian
press after the grand prix in Russia.
“Vettel could not hide his anger,” wrote
Corriere dello Sport, after the German
was taken out by Daniil Kvyat at Sochi.
“The gap between Ferrari and Mercedes
deepens more and more. The Maranello
team begins to get nervous and Vettel feels
the impact of a tense climate.”
Indeed, the qualifying gap to Mercedes
in Russia was almost a full second, while
Nico Rosberg easily cruised to his fourth
consecutive win in 2016.
“Ferrari is sinking in a quagmire of
problems,” La Repubblica, also referring
to reliability issues, reported. “The only
consolation for Maranello (at Sochi) was
Raikkonen, but his podium was not enough
to mitigate the disappointment of Vettel’s
weekend.”
La Gazzetta dello Sport agrees:
“Vettel’s weekend could not have been
worse. (Car) problems and the catastrophic
start left Sebastian and Arrivabene angry
with a weekend nobody expects from
Ferrari.”
“Kimi reached the podium but (in the
race) he fell asleep a couple of times,”
wrote Umberto Zapelloni.
This was echoed by Arrivabene
immediately after the race, “Raikkonen?
He had a good race but after the safety car
he could have been better.”
The report explained that the anger of
team boss Maurizio Arrivabene and Vettel
is because, although just four races into
the long 21-date calendar, the points gap
to Rosberg is already 67 points.