Ten-year title drought would be a "tragedy" for Ferrari

Ahead of a campaign where Ferrari hopes to take the championship fight to Mercedes, Marchionne has said that his company has regained 'credibility' after returning to the top step of the podium in 2015.

But, with its last drivers' championship success having come in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen, and its last constructors' success the following year, he is impatient for it to get another crown soon.

Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport about the potential impact of F1 title success, Marchionne said: "If we were to string together victories in F1 then it would improve our brand.

"I was speaking with one of our car dealerships and we agreed that the results of 2015 helped bring back credibility to the brand. If we were to somehow fail to win a title over a 10-year span it would be a tragedy."

Worst is gone

Marchionne has been instrumental to pushing through an overhaul of Ferrari, having taken over as Ferrari president from Luca di Montezemolo at the end of 2014.

When asked what his hardest time was, he said: "The first month. When I went to see where we stood in the overall scheme of F1 I realised that we weren't competitive."

He reckoned only a big change of personnel and approach was going to achieve a lift in form, and it is this overhaul which he has singled out as key.

"We cleared our ranks," he explained. "We won because we brought focus back to the team and began to do the things that are really important. Maurizio Arrivabene's arrival helped a lot."

Arrivabene strengths

Marchionne also reckons that Arrivabene's achievements since taking over as team principal have perhaps been under estimated.

"If he has a defect it isn't on the technical side of things," he said. "He is great at creating a team atmosphere. He knows how to make everyone work together."