A CRUCIAL ERROR BUT FERRARI STILL LOOKS FORMIDABLE

It was only a small mistake in difficult conditions, but it could be crucial. Sebastian Vettel seemed well on the way to his fifth win of 2018 and extending his championship lead when he slid off in the German Grand Prix last weekend. Just to rub it in, title rival Lewis Hamilton managed to win despite starting from 14th on the grid. Against the run of play, the Mercedes man – who is now signed up until the current rules are replaced for 2021 – now has a 17-point lead in the drivers’ table. There are some parallels to last year’s campaign, when an early Ferrari advantage was overturned thanks (in part) to a sequence of own goals, but things are different this time. First of all, Vettel’s Hockenheim off was not a major misjudgement like the one at Singapore in 2017, which started the downturn. Secondly, and more importantly, Ferrari looks far stronger this year. There was always a feeling in 2017 that Mercedes had the quicker car at most venues, if it could just get it working properly. In the second half of the season, it did, and Hamilton was mighty. That could happen this year, but the signs are that Ferrari has the edge. As the British GP at Silverstone showed, the SF71H is quick at a wider range of circuits than its predecessors, and even Mercedes now thinks that the Italian team has a straightline-speed advantage. The Hungaroring was one of Ferrari’s best tracks last year, so Vettel should go into the summer break no more than 10 points behind Hamilton. Then it’s up to Ferrari not to fall away like it did in 2017. Autosport would like to apologise to all those testing at Donington Park last Thursday (July 19) for the oil we left during Ben Anderson’s Formula 5000 track test following an unfortunate engine failure. Please look out for what Ben made of the awesome machine – and two others – in our ‘Lola at 60’ special in the August 9 issue.