Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari is "much more fired up" this season than it was during its struggles last year.
The four-time world champion joined Ferrari over the winter having moved from Red Bull to replace the outgoing Fernando Alonso. Having been in the Ferrari garage during the post-season test in Abu Dhabi a year ago, Vettel says the 12 months he has spent at Maranello have shown a clear change in attitude within the team.
“I think it’s pretty clear things have changed inside Ferrari compared to the year before," Vettel said. "People are much more fired up and there were big changes over the last winter with new talent on board and people shifting positions. Big changes are not easy to digest for a big team but I think we managed things pretty well throughout the season to improve the car, the engine, the power unit and we can be pretty happy."
Scoring Ferrari's season, Vettel said the team deserves an eight for the recovery it has delivered this year.
"I’d only give ourselves a ten if we would have won the championship, but considering all the things I’ve just explained and the difficulties we had at the start of the season I’d mark this season between a seven and a nine."
And reflecting on his personal performance Vettel says there have been few low points for him in his first year at Ferrari but admits he was disappointed with one recent race in particular.
"The worst moment of the season is easy to chose: crashing into the barriers in Mexico and having the spin before, so it was not a good race in spite of the pace we have.
"For the best one I think I’ll have to choose Malaysia. Already on the week before I had a highlight starting the season with a podium in my first race with Ferrari. To follow that one week later with a win was fantastic. I was happy on the podium a couple of times before but that one felt really special."
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