Ferrari are working "round the clock" to finish their car before pre-season testing in late-February according to Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne, due to the scale of the changes for 2017.
This year sees an overhaul of the technical regulations in the hope of producing much faster cars, and unlike most previous season, there will be little to no carry across in parts from the 2016 car to the 2017 car, meaning teams are having to work almost non-stop to be ready.
That's no different for Ferrari, according to Marchionne: "They're working round the clock," he told Corriere dello Sport. "At Christmas they had just two days vacation."
Although Marchionne says initial data suggests they're heading in the right direction, he refused to make any bold claims as he has done previously – none of which have proven accurate.
"The car is running well, I mean that the engine runs on the bench great. But I'm not falling for that this time, let's see what happens when the lights go out on the track.
"But the work they are doing [at the factory] is enormous, the engine, aerodynamics, all new rules."
When asked if Ferrari must rely on Mercedes making a mistake, he added: "We are wrong if we think like this. Maybe you don't like them, but they're good. It all depends on us, we need to focus on what we need to do to beat them."
