For few races in the 2018 Formula 1 season now the upgrades from Ferrari has worked well especially on the engine side as they pose a huge challenge to Mercedes.
The German manufacturer has had complete dominance on the engine side since the 2014 season. However, Ferrari has now started to crawl into the gap and take the challenge to Mercedes on their hunting ground.
The improvements from the Italian manufacturer can be seen and with fewer mistakes from their side, they are finally breathing down the neck of their German rivals. Even Lewis Hamilton has been talking much about the gains made by Ferrari.
After dominating Hamilton in last weekend’s Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps where Mercedes has done well in the past, the talk around Ferrari’s power unit got even more momentum which Sebastian Vettel is taking as a ‘huge compliment’.
“[It is] huge for us,” said Vettel. “I think we did everything right for Belgian GP weekend, but it is huge compliment if people praise our engine because last five years people didn’t praise anything else but Mercedes engine.
“So, it is good to have that change and I think it makes Maranello and our engine department will be very happy, [in fact] everybody involved can be proud. The key is not only that, the key is team work, the car is also working in all sorts of tracks.
“It is efficient and I think that’s the key to bring everything together. I think we’ve been making progress, especially the last two years, so, that’s good news. I think this feels pretty straightforward.
“We ran a little bit less wing, were faster in sector one, sector three and sector two was a little bit slower. But I wouldn’t disagree that this year in terms of power we are a lot closer than we were last year [at Spa-Francorchamps].
“I think last year we didn’t have a chance here, despite maybe running less wing – or more wing. It’s good to see that we’re making progress [and people praising us],” he summed up. Not just the factory team but it has also helped Sauber and Haas hugely in their fights.
While Haas fights Renault for fourth, Sauber is in the battle against Toro Rosso for eighth in the constructors’ championship – both the teams has managed to gain from the improved power unit from Ferrari to be in their respective positions this season.
