Sebastian Vettel says he is confident this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix will see Ferrari recapture the sort of pace that allowed him to nearly win the Canadian GP earlier this month.
The German was a close runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in Montreal, having raced the Briton all the way. Vettel also finished second to a Mercedes in Baku two weeks ago, but the Ferrari ace was not a genuine threat for eventual victor Nico Rosberg.
“Here [in Spielberg] I think we can expect to be competitive, but how competitive, we’ve seen every weekend that some circuit characteristics might suit you more than others, so I cannot give you a number,” Vettel said ahead of the Red Bull Ring event.
“But I’m quite confident we’ll be a lot closer than in Baku, I’m quite confident we’ll be as competitive or even more competitive than we were in Montreal.
“I think we are in a real fight. We are pushing very hard but, to be honest, nothing has changed, we’re not looking too much at others, in that case at the team that is ahead of us – Mercedes.
“We are looking after ourselves, trying to improve where we have to improve, looking at our weaknesses, trying to focus on our strengths and then we’ll see where it will takes us.”
Ferrari entered the season with high ambitions but has yet to taste victory in 2016. Company CEO Sergio Marchionne recently warned that the Scuderia “must improve”, though he also admitted this year’s SF16-H is a “difficult car”.
“I think if you look where we’ve been as a team and where we are now, we’ve made a big, big step,” Vettel replied when asked about the comments.
“Our president is very aware of what’s going on, he’s very much interested at what’s going on inside the factory, what’s good and what’s bad, where the weaknesses and strengths are and I’d probably agree with him statements.
“We need to improve, we don’t have the best car – it’s not a secret, so I don’t see where’s the big news – but we want to have the best car; we don't have the best engine, but we want to have the best engine.
“I think in all fields we’ve made progress, more than anybody else has, so there’s also reasons to be proud but for sure what we’re here for is to win races, what Ferrari is here for is to win races – that’s true.”
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