Sebastian Vettel is hoping his Scuderia Ferrari team can continue to make the ‘small steps’ necessary to get closer to the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team in the championship.
The German, embarking on his first season with the Italian team, took the team’s first victory since 2013 in this year’s Malaysian Grand Prix, but knows Mercedes are still the team to beat, especially after Lewis Hamilton’s three wins this year so far.
“At the moment, Mercedes has the strongest package and two strong drivers,” said Vettel to German newspaper Welt. “You can’t easily get past that, but we’re obviously trying to get as close as possible.
“We’re trying to annoy Mercedes, and when something goes wrong we have to be right behind them and ready to strike.
“However, it is also important that we don’t allow ourselves to be overtaken by the teams behind us in the process.”
Vettel hopes this steps by Ferrari can help them come out on top in the long run, stating that championships will be decided by a car ‘development arms race’.
“The development arms race always decides the world championship,” added Vettel. “If you do not improve from the first to the last race, you never win the title, even if you start with clearly the best car.”
