Vettel: 'plenty of positives' despite Monza setback

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Sebastian Vettel insisted that he isn't concerned at losing his lead in the world championship standings, following a difficult Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari.

Vettel salvaged third place in the race but was half a minute off the pace of race winner Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver has now taken the lead in the drivers' title race for the first time in 2017, albeit by just three points

"I’m in a very, very positive mood," Vettel said after the race. "I am not worried.

"It was a difficult weekend but I know that there is still a long way to go. And we have got the people behind us, so it is a great feeling.

"The support has been amazing and, despite the numbers, the gap, you can name the negatives but I’m very, very positive right now, to be honest.

"I know that people are going into the office tomorrow more committed than before. The spirit is there, we just need to keep it up. It’s a journey, we see where it takes us.

"It’s been a long way that the team has come from three years ago but we are nowhere near satisfied despite maybe having had a good season so far, it’s not good enough.

"Ferrari needs to be at the front and Ferrari needs to be on top of everything.

"So that’s where we want to go. For sure, they [Mercedes] are giving us a very, very hard time, especially at the moment, but we’ll see."

Vettel salvages third at Monza despite damage

Singapore has been a bogey circuit for Mercedes in the past and may be Ferrari's best chance to get back in front. But on paper at least, the power circuits of Sepang, Suzuka, Abu Dhabi and Austin lean toward Mercedes.

"I know how to read but I don’t really care what’s written on the paper," Vettel said dismissively. "They’re all tracks that I like, to be honest, so I’m very much looking forward to them.

"At the moment you can say that Mercedes has an edge," he admitted. "[But] things are coming. I’m sure they are developing their car, we are developing ours, so I’m not so fussed about what they doing.

"I’m more focused on what’s going on inside us, inside Ferrari," he added. "It makes me quite positive, what’s coming, so we just need to see.

"Then there’s always the extra element of racing that you can’t predict, that you can’t put down on paper. That’s usually the most exciting bit so I’m very much a fan of that and a fan of the moment and see what we can do."

"I think we are here to race, so if it’s hard it’s good. Easy is boring. I think that’s what we all want and I’m definitely looking forward to it.

"I think we are strong, we don’t need to hide and there’s plenty of positives," he summed up.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.