Arrivabene: We have reached our objectives

The revolution at Ferrari appears to have rejuvenated the sport's most iconic team, helped by the fact that their 2015 Formula 1 challenger appears to be a handy piece of kit and thus for newly instated team principal Maurizio Arrivabenne the 'winter season' is a case of mission accomplished.

Before leaving Circuit de Catalunya, Arrivabene summed up the situation at Ferrari, "Now, I can say that we have reached our objectives. The SF15-T is behaving as we’d expected."

"Kimi, who drove last last year’s car, sees an improvement and Sebastian, who is driving today, is also happy. But we all have our feet on the ground, because we know the other teams aren’t sleeping."

"It’s clear that Mercedes is there, but we have to concentrate on ourselves. At the moment we have a rough idea of our position relative to the opposition, but we know everyone follows different test programmes."

"Therefore, we are following ours, with concentration and discipline, which I believe are the keys to success. I have spoken to the team and I have made this clear," concluded Arrivabene.

The arrival of quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel is clearly one of the factors that has lifted spirits at Maranello and the German himself is relishing the situation but at the same time is remaining realistic.

"From a performance point of view, it’s clear that Mercedes is still ahead by quite a way, but right behind there is us, Williams and Red Bull, all very close," ventured Vettel.

And added, "We will know more in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile we must move forward one step at a time, looking above all at what we are doing ourselves."