Vasseur hopes to beat Mercedes: ‘I don’t know, yes," Wolff thinks otherwise
F1 News
Ferrari continue their efforts to cut to gap to Red Bull and fight their direct rivals Aston Martin and Mercedes with new upgrades they brought to Austria. Team principal Frederic Vasseur expanded on what that meant for the race in Spielberg, and how Ferrari can move forward.
"I think you have to do a reset every single weekend. We are in a group from P2 to P10, but you can move from one session to the other one, from the top to the bottom," said Vasseur.
He continued: "You don't have to come to the next event full of conviction, but I think the most important thing is to be open-minded and to continue to push. But nothing is done and I hope that it will stay like this until the end of the season."
Hard to fight Verstappen, but looking forward to topping Mercedes
Carlos Sainz won the race last season in Silverstone, but Vasseur acknowledges they are not the favourites this time around. "We'll have probably a better picture tonight after FP2, but if you consider the last two races, I think we are still a step down compared to Max, and it will be a challenge, but at least to be in front of the others, and you don't know what could happen."
Vasseur was also asked about beating Mercedes. "I don't know. Yes!" However, also present Toto Wolff was quick to reply to him: "Ain’t going to happen!"
Evolution of the Ferrari
Vasseur also expanded the progress Ferrari has done this season. "We were looking for more consistency and drivability from the car from the beginning of the season, and I think we did a decent step forward. Barcelona was the first one, but Barcelona was quite difficult. Montreal went much better for us, and then we did another step in Austria."
The Ferrari boss underlined the closeness of the teams fighting for P2 in the constructors’ championship. "We still have 12 or 13 races to go, and it will be a long fight. (...) It will be each weekend, depending on the track layout, the tarmac, the weather conditions. It will be a full result, and it's so tight that for one tenth or two tenths, you can move from the top to the bottom."