Ferrari has a better chance of winning the drivers’ championship this year than Red Bull last year but remains “a pretty big outside shot”, according to Daniel Ricciardo.
Sebastian Vettel won the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of the mid-season break - his second victory of 2015 - to leave himself 42 points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton. Ricciardo himself was in a similar situation a year ago, and having won in Hungary also went on to win in Spa before any potential title challenge faded.
Asked about Ferrari’s hopes of putting more pressure on Mercedes, Ricciardo says Vettel has a better chance than he had last year but still doesn’t see him as a realistic title challenge without luck.
“I think they’re a bit like us last year,” Ricciardo said. “They’re probably closer than we were, but I think it’s still a pretty big outside shot. I think it’s going to need a few more poor races from Mercedes - and when I say poor I mean incidents or reliability issues - because if Seb is winning then naturally the Mercedes are going to be second and third.
“I don’t think he’ll be able to win that many races to take that many points from them, so unless he wins a few and they have some DNFs or something I still think Mercedes are hard to beat. The tight and twisty circuits Ferrari seem to be closer, but I think around here this weekend Mercedes will stretch their legs.”
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