Ferrari Needed Abu Dhabi GP Reality Check to Hush 2016 Formula 1 Title Chat
It has come to something when merely remaining on the same lap as the race winners is the sure sign of a team on course for great things.
Having recovered from their first winless season in 21 years in 2014 to claim three grand prix victories, 13 further podium finishes and even a pole position—arguably the greatest achievement of all—in 2015, Ferrari have plenty of reasons to celebrate as Formula One begins its winter break.
Yet despite Sebastian Vettel's surprise triumph in the second round in Malaysia, the smash-and-grab afternoon in Hungary and that dominant weekend under the night sky in Singapore, none of Ferrari's victories were met with quite the same levels of excitement and encouragement as one of their most damning defeats.
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At November's Brazilian Grand Prix, just a fortnight after their worst performance of the season in Mexico, Ferrari were comprehensively outclassed by Mercedes, the two-time constructors' world champions.
In qualifying, per the official F1 website, Vettel's best time in Q3, despite earning him third place on the grid, was 0.522 seconds slower than Nico Rosberg's pole-position lap, while team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was forced to settle for fifth after being beaten by Williams' Valtteri Bottas.
Mercedes' advantage continued into the race as Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, on one of the shortest circuits on the calendar, sped away into the distance, lapping every other driver in the field.
Except, of course, those in scarlet red.
Although Vettel and Raikkonen were the only ones spared the indignity of moving aside for the Silver Arrows, Ferrari were hardly in contention for victory at Interlagos as the former finished 14 seconds behind Rosberg and the latter almost 46 seconds adrift of first place.
But to them, this seemed to be further evidence that they were moving in the right direction, that they were edging ever closer to a return to the summit of the sport.
After crossing the finish line, per the official F1 website, Vettel commented over pit-to-car radio that Brazil was "probably one of the best races we had this year," claiming that, "at best," Ferrari "had the same pace" as Mercedes.
Meanwhile, technical director James Allison—normally among the more measured, eloquent thinkers in the paddock—told Motorsport.com's Adam Cooper how Ferrari "never at any point made (Mercedes) break out into a sweat" before suggesting their rivals had "only got a whisker on us here" and predicting the team's 2016 season will be "exciting, daunting, but thrilling."
Allison's enthusiasm, however, was nothing compared to that of his team principal, Maurizio Arrivabene, who went on to tell Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble how his "honest expectation" for 2016 "is not to be closer to (Mercedes) but to be in front of them."
"I will tell you with humility, but being closer—we are closer even now. We must be in front next year," he declared.
Arrivabene's success in restoring confidence to Ferrari, in reminding a group of people left disillusioned and directionless at the end of 2014 that they are representing the most successful team in the history of Formula One, has been at the heart of their resurgence in 2015.
His presence, as a man with limited experience in motorsport before being handed one of the most challenging jobs of all, ridicules the notion that good racing teams need to be run by "good racing people."
And perhaps his previous life as a Philip Morris salesman has indirectly played a role in his achievements thus far, allowing him to introduce fresh, expressive thinking and good, old-fashioned common sense to what had been a stifling, volatile environment prior to his arrival.
Yet there is a danger that the Arrivabene effect may soon become counterproductive for a team currently relying slightly more on their bravado than their brains.
We have witnessed it at various points throughout 2015, from Riccardo Adami using Vettel's victory in Malaysia as an opportunity to remind us "Ferrari's back!"—as heard on the Italian manufacturer's official YouTube channel—to Dave Greenwood badgering Raikkonen on the final lap of October's Russian GP.
Seconds after being told it was "all or nothing," per the official F1 website, Raikkonen launched a half-hearted move on Bottas, punting the Williams into the crash barriers and earning himself a 30-second post-race penalty when—had he been managed in a smarter, calmer and more efficient manner—he may have reached the podium.
After two years of Mercedes dominance, which has seen Hamilton and Rosberg win 32 of a possible 38 races between them, there is an ever-growing, widespread desire for Ferrari to emerge as a major force and make the world champions work tirelessly for their wins at the very least.
And, with the tifosi behind them, the "Il Canto degli Italiani" ringing in their ears and that most iconic of emblems on their chest, Ferrari seem compelled to deliver what the watching world wants so badly.
In the aftermath of those bold, post-Brazil claims, however, it was strangely satisfying to see the team offered a reality check at last weekend's Abu Dhabi GP, where Vettel was eliminated from Q1 after what he told the Press Association's Phil Duncan (h/t MailOnline) was a "costly" misjudgment.
That error, coupled with Ferrari's pace relative to Rosberg and Hamilton (as we noted after the race), only confirmed the team, for all the rhetoric, continue to lack the operational flawlessness demonstrated by Mercedes since the beginning of 2014.
As his colleagues allowed themselves to dream of title triumphs, it was left to Raikkonen—ever the realist—to act as the voice of reason, telling Motorsport.com's Noble how he's "been around long enough to know" the "amazing" numbers seen in the factory do not always translate to the brutally unforgiving surface of a racetrack.
The notion that their best may still not be quite good enough is unthinkable for a Ferrari team who, without a championship of any kind since 2008, have never looked closer to a return to the top.
But while the Prancing Horse have rediscovered their swagger in 2015, there is still a long, long way to go.
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