Sebastian Vettel reckons that the 2019 Ferrari F1 car is not responding to his driving style as the team suffers through mechanical grip in low speed corners.
It hasn’t been the start Ferrari or Vettel and Charles Leclerc would have wanted to their 2019 F1 campaign, especially with Mercedes scoring a record-breaking four consecutive 1-2 finishes to eke out a solid lead in both the championships.
Despite having a quick car, Ferrari’s lack of overall package is hurting them as Mercedes hands down is ticking all the boxes so far – with luck also on their side. In the four races so far, only Australia has been the case where Ferrari were totally outplayed.
They have been up there in Bahrain, China and also Azerbaijan, but haven’t been able to capatilise on situations. The German feels there is mechanical grip lack rather than it being an aero problem in slow speed corners like in Azerbaijan.
Personally as well, Vettel hasn’t found the best sync so far where the car is doing what he wants it to do. It is well known and history has shown when a driver doesn’t feel 100 percent in the car, the confidence takes a hit. Vettel, though, remains optimistic.
“We need stronger pace, simple as that,” Vettel said to the media in Azerbaijan. “We need to be faster. I’m convinced we’ve been, partly in Azerbaijan, looking very strong but overall not strong enough.
“So, it seems that for us it’s more of a conscious effort to get the car in the right window, whereas maybe for Mercedes it seems to click a little bit easier. Especially in a place like Baku, you need the confidence in the car. I’m not yet there.
“I can feel that I’m not driving at my best because simply the car does not answer or does not respond the way I like. And then I think it’s unnatural. I think everybody’s been there. I think all drivers know that sort of feeling.
“When it’s not there, then your judgement is normally right, to not go there because you end-up losing the car. So, I seem to be more sensitive at the first races than at the test. The test was really good but that’s a long time ago now.
“We need to look forward and improve the way we handle things, the way we work to just get faster. But we have absolutely taken a step forward with our car. I think more of a dominating factor is just the way we seem to be able to get on top of or into these tyres.
“I think there’s a lot of performance in that. The struggle we had here in those low speed corners is less of an aero problem, more of a mechanical grip issue. So a lot of homework for us, obviously, in the last couple of weeks.
“But I’m sure that once we get everything together the car is strong, and then we will be much more in the fight. At this stage, obviously, averaging the first four races we were just not quick enough [to Mercedes].”
For any sort of comeback for their 2019 F1 title aspirations, Ferrari has to do something to upset the rhythm of Mercedes in next weekend’s Spanish GP – the circuit where they were exceptional in the pre-season test.
Check out the list of stats and info from F1 Azerbaijan GP
Here’s Charles Leclerc on not pushing in second/third stint
Lewis Hamilton was cautious at start as he played a team game
Sebastian Vettel on finding pace in the second stint
Ross Brawn on Ferrari fighting back
Mercedes explains Q3 dummy and VSC re-start issue
Mika Hakkinen on Mercedes teamwork