Ferrari delayed work on its 2016 car to fully develop the SF15-T last season, but remains confident it will not have a negative impact on the upcoming campaign.
After a winless 2014 Ferrari emerged as the closest contender to Mercedes and took three victories through Sebastian Vettel. President Sergio Marchionne has admitted the successful season prompted a prolonged focus on the 2016 car but does not think the team will suffer as a result.
"[Team boss] Maurizio [Arrivabene] will tell you we delayed some things to allow for the 2015 car to be finished," Marchionne is quoted as saying by Autosport. "Hopefully he will not bitch about this. We pushed the start of some of the work on the '16 cars on the chassis, delayed it a bit.
"But we have had adequate time and adequate financial resources to do the right thing given the rules. So I'm confident we will give Mercedes a run for their money."
Marchionne has declared he wants Ferrari to be the team to beat at the 2016 opener in Melbourne and he says there are no excuses this year for not challenging Mercedes across the entire season.
"So I'm confident we will give Mercedes a run for their money. We approached the 16 car with a very clear idea and very clear interpretation.
"It is incredibly unlikely that the car will not offer Mercedes a proper challenge. For me to determine whether it will win or not would be very gutsy. I have no excuses to give you this year, in the sense that we started developing the car at the proper time."