Vettel admits Ferrari's 2019 title prospects already entering crunch time; Team optimistic of stronger Canada - but will it be enough?
Friday 7 June 2019 08:31, UK
Sebastian Vettel has described F1's summer races as a "crucial" period for Ferrari to determine whether they can make a fight of 2019's world titles against Mercedes.
The Scuderia are already more points adrift in the Constructors' Championship than they finished behind in 2018, while Vettel is 55 points off Lewis Hamilton's pace in the drivers' standings, after a disappointing first third of the season.
"The next races will be really crucial for us trying to get back to the front and give a much harder time to Mercedes," said Vettel ahead of this weekend's Canadian GP, which begins with Practice One at 3pm on Friday.
"I don't think you need to be a genius: before the summer break we need to be in very, very good shape to then use that momentum for the second half to turn it around."
This weekend's GP in Montreal makes the first of six races in nine weeks before the August summer break.
Charles Leclerc, Vettel's team-mate, insisted: "It has been a difficult start to the season, we definitely expected more, but we don't need to wave goodbye yet [to the world title].
"We need to push until the end and that's what we are doing; trying to understand our mistakes and to not do them again. I'm pretty sure the results will come."
Can Ferrari cure their problems?
Critical to Ferrari's hopes of a 2019 turnaround is car development, with the Italian team needing to rectify their car's weaknesses before it is effectively too late to challenge Mercedes.
"Rest assured, we are flat out," Vettel told reporters. "There is a lot of work going on.
"Whatever comes to the car short-term has been launched and triggered a while ago, but certainly the fact we are struggling this year with certain things - the tyres, overall grip and handling of the car - even if they are linked, you look at all the options that you have."
The caveat, as explained by Vettel, is that Ferrari can only claim to have definitively found "solutions" when the upgrades and changes have been successfully tested on track.
"It's not shooting in all directions but, as usual, if you have an understanding and you think that is what you need to do you don't have a full answer until you put the car back on the track," added the German.
"The stopwatch is all that matters and it tells you 'yes or no'. That we have to wait for but there are some ideas to try and improve where we are and they sound quite promising. But the real proof, and the only proof, is the stopwatch."
Vettel added: "We have certain things in the pipeline. We have an understanding of what the car needs. There are somethings we can apply short term, other things are more long term, but very quickly within these weeks we will find out where we are."
Will 2019's problems impact 2020?
Like all teams at this time of the year, Ferrari's designers and management are increasingly have to juggle the demands of developing 2019's car while putting plans in place for 2020's model.
Vettel says the Scuderia are assessing whether any design overhauls will be required for next year.
"There is a trend in the last couple of years that you start next year's project rather sooner than the usual September or summer break, it starts way ahead," he added.
"We're looking into it and seeing if there is anything fundamental we want to change."
Sky Sports F1 is the home of live and exclusive F1. Find out more here to watch the 2019 season live
