Sebastian Vettel says he isn’t prepared to give up on his championship chances despite Ferrari not having won any of the nine races so far this year.
The Ferrari driver fell to fourth in the championship, 74 points behind leader Lewis Hamilton, at the Austrian Grand Prix. However he says Ferrari has made progress with its car in recent races and the coming rounds will be “crucial” for the championship.“I don’t think I have a reason not to believe,” said Vettel when asked if he thinks the championship is still possible, “but it’s not my number one thought when I go to bed.
“I am looking forward to this race and then looking forward to the next. I think we have a lot of stuff on our list, a lot of work ahead of us and time will tell.
“Obviously the next races until the summer break in general are very crucial. But in order to turn things around we need to have a stronger package overall otherwise it’s not enough to just challenge for victory. I think we need to have a package strong enough to demand the victory.”
Ferrari has understood why the floor part of its French Grand Prix upgrade did not work as expected, Vettel added.
“We learned a lot after [the] confusion or some bits that didn’t turn out the way we wanted to during the French Grand Prix. I think Austria brought some clarity and I think we have a clear picture of what was wrong in terms of tuning and what needs to be changed.
“Obviously the next couple of weeks then will tell where we go. I think it’s pretty normal that unfortunately not all the bits that you bring always bring you the step that you want or you expect. Sometimes parts over-deliver, which is great, and sometimes they under-deliver. I think overall we just need to make sure that we know a direction to go to and we keep going down that way.”
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Cristiano
11th July 2019, 17:17
Yeah the title is possible. Right now Vettel is only 35 pts behind Charles Leclerc, the leader of the championship.
Of course i’m talking about my career mode at F1 2019 :)
Adam (@rocketpanda)
11th July 2019, 17:20
Lol. Sure, Jan.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
11th July 2019, 18:09
I mean Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone in 99.
Hamilton could theoretically do the same.
You’d still expect Bottas to mop up in that situation tho. He’d be a bit more likely to do the job than Irvine.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
11th July 2019, 18:33
@eurobrun Will Ocon give the win to Bottas at the Hockenheim, tho?
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
11th July 2019, 19:48
@fer-no65 nice :)
bob (@riptide)
11th July 2019, 21:06
I thought it was Vettel who gave the win to Hamilton in Hockenheim?…………….or was that Monza?……….Bahrain?
Chaitanya
12th July 2019, 4:07
Or Singapore or Suzuka ?
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
12th July 2019, 6:54
@riptide it was a joke about an alternative future in which the 99 season repeats itself 20 years later, with Lewis breaking his legs instead of MSC.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
25th July 2019, 11:17
Yes, so hamilton = schumacher, bottas = irvine and ocon = salo in that scenario, for who didn’t understand.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
11th July 2019, 18:33
Guess people weren’t lying about the prospects of Vettel retiring and starting a career in stand-up comedy!
F1oSaurus (@)
11th July 2019, 19:49
Sure the title is still possible. More likely for Hamilton, Bottas or even Leclerc though.
Chris
11th July 2019, 20:14
hahahahaha, sure mate sure. What else? lol
georgeboole (@)
11th July 2019, 20:37
Unless Leclerc, Kimi or Giovinazzi (whatever he is called) crash on Hamilton in every gp, I don’t see it happening.
But then there’s Max. I bet their stategists won’t see him coming…
Robbie (@robbie)
11th July 2019, 20:37
Well at least he acknowledges they’d have to pretty much start ‘demanding’ races not just competing for victories, starting this weekend. I’d bet most are not expecting that, but hey, it’s not like he is going to say ‘we’re doomed’ or something like that. Goes to the old ‘we’re not done until we’re mathematically done’ mantra.
Electroball76
11th July 2019, 20:45
Vettel replaces Gasly and wins every remaining race? :-)
liongalahad
13th July 2019, 3:38
On an even slower car than he already has? Plausible 🤔
Niefer (@niefer)
11th July 2019, 22:02
C’mon Seb, for a funny guy, you should try harder.
Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
11th July 2019, 22:15
Some folks dont realise the mindset of an F1 driver. The moment they think they aren’t the best or they have lost, is they moment they do lose and lose bad. Obviously he still hopes for the WDC, what do you want him to do exactly? Isn’t that the goal of any F1 driver?
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
11th July 2019, 22:25
Or you could say that that happened when Riccardo forced him out of Redbull and he hasn’t been the same since.
stjs16 (@stjs16)
12th July 2019, 12:16
Same for most top level sportsmen
Hard braking mike
11th July 2019, 22:18
In order for him to win the title Ferrari will have to start dominating from this weekend onwards. This will require their strategists to actually start making good calls for a start as well as Lewis to all of a sudden have a huge and nervy downturn in form. If it was 5 years ago, maybe. These days? very unlikely. Lewis has shown time and time again that he will extract more from his Merc than Vettel can ever do in that Ferrari. 75 points at this stage is a huge advantage. You would be mad to bet against Lewis to throw the title away at this stage considering he is historically better from this point of the season onwards.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
11th July 2019, 23:07
Possible, yes, but it would require the sort of run that Seb and RBR had in the latter part of 2013. However, in that case, they were aided in part by their competitors turning their focus onto the game-changing 2014 season, a luxury Seb and Ferrari don’t have this year.
David BR (@david-br)
11th July 2019, 23:22
It’s not entirely possible for Ferrari to turn the season on its head and win the second half. They’ve thrown away some races, hot weather races (quite a few lining up) could be bad for Mercedes, and Ferrari do seem to be solving some of their aero issues. The obvious elephant in the garage is Leclerc, though, who is now qualifying ahead and finishing ahead of Vettel and frankly looks the better driver. And Verstappen, given that he should be able to capitalize on any Mercedes decline too.
Green Flag (@greenflag)
11th July 2019, 23:49
Mercedes decline? Only if they hold the rest of the season’s races in hell.
zimkazimka (@zimkazimka)
12th July 2019, 12:20
For this scenario to happen Mercedes will have to stop all their development work. And they won’t, obviously. They already plan to bring new parts to hotter races that will improve (if not solve) their cooling issue.
David BR (@david-br)
12th July 2019, 19:22
@greenflag @zimkazimka I meant relatively and I’m not actually expecting it :oP
I agree, it would need Ferrari to make big improvements in aero without compromising their straight speed advantage, probably impossible, and for a lot of hot races without Mercedes finding a solution, and, probably, some misfortunes for both Bottas and Hamilton to cut their lead. And even then, like I said, Leclerc and Verstappen would remain threats to Vettel winning the title.
DWinn
11th July 2019, 23:32
I believe in fairies too.
papaya
12th July 2019, 4:43
Yes possible, Mercedes to suffer overheating and PU meltdown on Hamilton’s car for 4 races in succession. The “Hidden Force 2016 Has Awaken” they called, hahaha.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
12th July 2019, 6:23
:D This is what I like from a driver.
Toto also says this is totally possible, this I dislike.
BasCB (@bascb)
12th July 2019, 9:31
Funny isn’t it @jureo.
I am curious why so many people seem to react negatively to this. I love that we get Vettel saying things that seem to be really him talking, no corporate / PR gibberish.
And yeah, it is good to hear that he sees the points still out there to grab, and the signs they are getting to understand their car and approach and sees opportunity, not defeat.
In the end, he himself and the team beat themselves in the last two years. This year they have also been making too many mistakes. But it means they have it in their own hands to get better, cut out the mistakes and be there.
Vettel got really close in 2009 when they believed they could beat Brawn GP despite starting on the back foot. Why not go for it this time.
Yes, let Vettel/Ferrari DEMAND the wins, the titles. It would be a great turn in the championship battle. Just go for it, and give the fans great driving!