Lewis Hamilton’s former team boss has made a worrying admission about Ferrari’s title prospects.
The seven-time world champion will complete a shock switch to the Scuderia next season, where he will hope to begin his campaign towards a record-breaking eighth world title.
Hamilton will also reunite with his former GP2 boss, Fred Vasseur, who has taken the helm at Ferrari and steered the team in a new direction.
Not only have Ferrari acquired Mercedes personnel to join alongside Hamilton, but they also recently succeeded in securing a spectacular home victory with Charles Leclerc.
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After introducing upgrades at the Italian GP, Ferrari have demonstrated their competitiveness at the front of the field, beating the quicker McLaren to the victory.
However, team principal Vasseur does not believe this will translate into championship success this season, despite the team now being within 39 points of Red Bull in the constructors’ standings.
“It’s quite difficult to understand the impact of the upgrade on a track like Monza, because we are in such a different configuration compared to the rest of the season,” Vasseur told media after their Monza victory.
“But at the end of the day, when you see the qualifying and you have six cars in less than one-tenth [two-tenths actually], every single bit makes the difference.
“The upgrade definitely brought us closer to McLaren, but I don’t think it’s enough to be the car to beat for the rest of the season on other tracks,” he added.
“Singapore maybe could be a strong track for us. On the other tracks, I still feel like we are a step behind McLaren and Red Bull.
“But we’ve seen that we can be very on a par with McLaren if we do everything perfect. We’ve done some steps forward. I think we need some others.”
Not only do Vasseur’s comments spell bad news for Ferrari fans, they may also be cause for concern among Hamilton fans ahead of the seven-time champion’s bid for an elusive eighth title next season.
Hamilton will hope the team will prove they can more regularly challenge Red Bull and McLaren for race wins in the weeks to come.
