Ferrari team principal Marco Mattiacci has no concerns about drivers Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen despite a difficult season at Maranello for the Italian team.
Alonso has led the team’s charge in spite of the problematic F14 T car, and currently sits fourth in the drivers’ championship. However, McLaren is known to be chasing the Spaniard for a 2015 seat, prompting speculation about his future with Ferrari.
However, in an interview with the official Formula 1 website, Mattiacci said that he has no concerns about either of his drivers, despite some accusing Alonso of practically running the team.
“We have to work very hard and will find many tough days along the way, but we will get back to the top,” Mattiacci said, reflecting on Ferrari’s six year title drought. “I like to deliver rather than overpromise.
“It’s true, everybody is a leader at Ferrari. Everybody is running the team, including Fernando, in the way that everybody has to bring ideas. Yes, we have a very clear organization structure – and at the moment I am at the top of that organisation.”
Raikkonen’s form has been patchy in 2014, making his much-fanfared return to Ferrari rather underwhelming. He has already said that he will be retiring from F1 upon the expiration of his contract with the team at the end of next season, leading to some suggestions that the team could cut its losses at the end of the year and force the Finn out.
However, Mattiacci had nothing but praise for the 2007 world champion.
“I love Kimi,” he said. “He is one of the most talented drivers. We have had a bit of an issue delivering an outstanding car, but the team is all behind him and we have seen from his races in Hungary and Belgium that he has arrived.”
The Finn certainly showed signs of his old self by finishing fourth at Spa for Ferrari, helping the team to stay ahead of Williams in the constructors’ championship.
Mattiacci has made clear that he plans to keep both drivers on for 2015, but if the paddock chatter about Alonso’s movements is indeed true, the Italian may be forced to switch to ‘Plan B’ for his line-up.
The focus of the Detroit Monster Energy Supercross round was on the mid-pack battle while Aaron Plessinger pulled away from the field, but when he crashed after hooking his foot in the dirt, the results once more looked like we’ve come to expect, with Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac sharing the podium for the fifth time in 10 rounds.Justin Barcia was part of an exciting, four-rider battle in the middle of Detroit’s A-Main. – Feld Motor Sports
For Sexton, Plessinger’s late-race crash was a vindication of sorts. Several times already this season, Sexton has crashed while battling for the lead and the points that has cost him keeps him sporting the red plate. He lost points in Detroit for a different reason, however.
Sexton was allowed to keep the win, but was penalized seven points for jumping in a red cross section of the course. As a result, he dropped four points to Webb and two to Tomac. Sexton is now 17 points behind Webb in the championship hunt.
One week after snatching the red plate from Tomac for the first time in 2023, Webb stretched his advantage by two. With his second-place finish, Webb holds a three-point lead over Tomac, which essentially means both riders control their fate in the coming weeks. Webb continues to have a sweep of the top five this season with his sixth consecutive podium.
Coming off his worst finish of the season, Tomac rebounded to finish third. His eighth-place result last week was partially attributed to a stiff neck that hindered him in traffic and he still suffered some of those same effects in Detroit. Before Plessinger’s crash, he was destined to be the only rider in the three-man title scrum to finish off the podium in Detroit.
It is surprising what one position can do for one’s confidence.
Justin Barcia scored his fourth top-five of the season. He was part of the exciting four-man battle that dominated the middle stages of the race before Sexton and Webb gained a little separation. Finishing less than three seconds behind Tomac, he kept that rider honest for the entire race.
Coming off his first win of the season, Ken Roczen finished fifth. It was his seventh top-five of the season and it elevated him to fifth in the standings.
Hunter Lawrence tied his brother Jett Lawrence with 10 wins each after another dominating ride in the Detroit Supercross race and the results in the points continue to widen. With his fifth win in six rounds and a worst finish of third, Lawrence now has a 35-point advantage over Nate Thrasher with four rounds remaining. Finishes of 14th or better in the final four mains will give him his first 250 championship.
Strong starts have been one of the keys to Hunter Lawrence’s success in 2023. – Feld Motor Sports
Jett will have an opportunity to retake his wins’ lead as Supercross heads west for the next two rounds in Seattle and Glendale, Arizona.
Nate Thrasher earned his third second-place finish of the season with a gap of 7.6 seconds to Lawrence. He won the overall in Arlington earlier this season, but a 15th-place finish in the opening round in Houston and 10th in Daytona hurts his championship chances.
Haiden Deegan scored his second podium and fourth top-five in six rounds of his young career. On his way to that finish, he rode aggressively against his teammate Jordon Smith in the heat race. Fans are getting a glimpse of what his on-track personality might be.
Jeremy Martin continues to be the model of consistency. He has not finished worse than sixth or better than fourth in six rounds now and that has allowed him to close to within two points of third in the 250 East championship standings.
Max Anstie entered the race weekend second in the points, but a hard crash in heavy traffic early in the main forced him to retire after two laps. Earning only one point for the round, he plummeted to fifth in the standings.
The news was worse for Smith, who was dropped out of the top nine in his heat after the altercation with Deegan and failed to advance through the LCQ. In the last chance race, he stalled his engine and had to mount a determined charge. He got only as high as seventh in that race after crashing while attempting to make a pass on fourth-place Jack Chambers.
