Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne says his team's defeat to Mercedes in both Formula One world championships was the result of a combination of technical issues and driver error.
Following an aerodynamic regulation overhaul during the winter, the Scuderia made a strong start to the season and looked on course to challenge for its first title in eight years as Sebastian Vettel led the drivers' standings for much of 2017, while three victories in the opening six races also handed Ferrari the lead in the constructors' championship after Monaco.
But a resurgence in form from Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes after the summer break, coupled with a disastrous string of results across the three Asian flyaways in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, put a severe dent in Vettel's hopes of securing a fifth world championship.
Vettel was wiped out up in a start-line crash in Singapore, before engine reliability problems struck in Malaysia and Japan, with a faulty spark plug -- costing just 59 euros -- forcing the German into retirement in the latter. That allowed Mercedes to wrap up its fourth consecutive constructors' title as early as October's U.S. Grand Prix, while Lewis Hamilton sealed his fourth drivers' championship with two races to spare at the Mexican Grand Prix.
"I don't believe in bad luck," Marchionne said in an investors' call. "Ultimately it's a reflection on the way in which we manage the businesses. It was a combination, especially in the second half of the season, between technical issues and driver error -- or driver misjudgement."
Marchionne said the nature of Ferrari's sudden collapse in both world championships exposed his team's shortcomings in a "painful way", and highlighted the need for the Italian outfit to improve in 2018.
"I think we have learned a lot, and it's a painful way of learning it. The second half revealed some structural weaknesses in the manner in which we are managing the business, which are going to get rectified and hopefully in 2018 will be a much better season.
"I remind everybody who asks me this question, and I am probably the most critical in the way in which we manage our F1 activities, but if I had asked anybody at this time last year as to how well we would have done in 2017 I couldn't have got a buyer for the idea that we would be that far advanced in the first half of the season.
"So, we have done well given our starting point, [but] we were unable to finish the task. It's a 2018 objective now. We regret not having done better, but the car is there -- it's in my view the best car on the track today."