Two wins in three races but Ferrari boss plays down F1 title bid

LONDON: Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur refused to talk up his team’s Formula One championship chances even as they celebrated a second win in the space of three races.

The Italian team have not won a title since 2008 but are now 78 points behind Mercedes in the constructors’ standings while seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is third overall and 32 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc, who won Sunday’s British Grand Prix a month after teammate Hamilton won in Spain, is fourth and 39 points adrift of his teammate.

“Championship fight is your words,” Vasseur said when asked about what is shaping up to be a Mercedes versus Ferrari battle at the top and the gap shrinking, although neither Ferrari was on the podium in Austria between the wins.

“After Barcelona I had the comment that Ferrari is back in the championship. I said no. The week after you told me that Ferrari is nowhere. I said no.

“I will have exactly the same approach with everybody at home, even if I won’t be in the office tomorrow. To say: ‘Guys, we did a good weekend. Now let’s be focused on Spa. It’s not that we are champions. We are not nowhere. We are improving step by step but it is like it is’.”

The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps is next up, with Leclerc a winner there in 2019 — a different era before the current engines — and Hamilton also triumphant on previous visits with Mercedes and McLaren.

Vasseur felt Mercedes, winners of seven of nine grands prix and on pole position in all, still had a small advantage on pure performance even if Ferrari looked strong at the start and on race pace.

Hamilton and Leclerc both felt they could take the fight to Ferrari and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff agreed they were strong rivals and could be expected to remain so for the rest of the season.

George Russell, a lucky second on Sunday after the safety car played into his hands and Antonelli suffered a mechanical problem and failed to score, said Ferrari were clearly in the hunt.

“These Ferrari guys look really quick. So, yeah, game on,” said the Briton.