Poor recent pace helped Ferrari identify weaknesses

Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari was able to identify a number of weaknesses compared to Red Bull and Mercedes as a result of its recent poor performances.

In the final four races before the mid-season break, Red Bull moved ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' championship as it outscored the Scuderia by 51 points during that period. While Vettel is obviously not happy with the difference in results, he says Ferrari is able to use the performances to identify where it lacks compared to the leading two teams.

"I think it’s more of a general thing but I don’t want to go into too much detail, I know you’re very interested!" Vettel said when asked if Ferrari had identified problems with its car.

"Some things do take a little bit of time but overall the most important is that we’re challenging ourselves and obviously you’re right, it would have been nicer to find out a bit sooner, but that’s how it is.

"The main point is that we find out, we are always trying to improve, but the last races in this regard have been very educational to know potentially where our weaknesses compared to Red Bull and Mercedes."

Asked if he feels the set-up window of the Ferrari is small, Vettel replied: “No I don’t think so.

"I generally disagree, I think we’ve only been struggling, let’s say if we are talking about the set up, to find the right balance at the last two events. I think Hungary stood out and we were a little bit on the back foot but we made it by qualifying, so that was very good and by qualifying the car was at its best. Unfortunately we didn’t get the lap that we could have had and therefore not the result.

"[Germany] I think is a different story and I think we were struggling to find the right set up, we didn’t find it in quali at least with the conditions we had. That’s why, I guess, we are a little bit off compared to normal.”