Advantage Ferrari after Monaco
Vettel builds a 25-point lead Mercedes frustration mounts
MOMENTUM is with Ferrari heading into this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, following a dominant 1-2 result for the Scuderia at last month’s Monaco race.
Sebastian Vettel’s win on the streets of the Principality extended his lead over Lewis Hamilton to 25 points, while the Mercedes driver had a lacklustre weekend, coming home seventh.
Mercedes’ Niki Lauda was in pessimistic mood after the race, declaring: “One thing is clear: Vettel needs to retire at least once, otherwise it’s over. Ferrari has got a momentum going. If it stays like this the gap will become huge.”
A disappointed Hamilton said: “Of course I can’t afford another weekend like this. At the current rate, where Ferraris are quick, of course not. There’s no point dwelling on the fact that you can’t afford it.
“You just work towards trying to rectify issues and hope that you don’t come across it again. It’s not like we came to Monaco unprepared... the car was in a different place than we’ve really ever had it before.
“Ferrari seems to work everywhere,” he continued. “These next 14 races will be very, very difficult. They’ve had probably the strongest car all year, a bit like our car last year where it just worked everywhere.
“This car currently is not working at every race we go to, but the more races we do, the more we learn and the stronger we get.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff indicated he hoped the team’s poor performance at Monaco, where neither car made it on to the podium, was a one-off. “Our target would be that it’s the worst race of the season, hopefully, and an outlier like we had in Singapore,” he said after the race.
“It’s just about bringing the tyres into the right window. We have a fast car, but she doesn’t like the tyres, and that is something we need to understand.
“Ferrari is able to put the car on the floor and it goes straight from the beginning till the end, with both drivers equally competitive or uncompetitive.
“That has been different all through the season for us. I have confidence in the group of people so the more mileage we do, the more data we collect, the better we will understand.”