F1 News
Ferrari two steps away from the top, Hamilton: "The performance is there"
Lewis Hamilton finished the race in China in P6, after the authoritative performance shown in the SF-25 during the sprint sessions of the race weekend became diluted into grey showings at both the qualifying on Saturday afternnon and the race itself the following day. Although the Briton sees more perfomance to be unlocked in the Ferrari car, he also sees the Scuderia have to take two major steps to outclass its rivals.
Before Hamilton learned of the subsequent disqualifications he and teammate Charles Leclerc would suffer after their cars failed the post-race inspections, the Briton spoke to media present at the Shanghai International Circuit after the race: "The window is quite narrow. But there is performance there, I think, in hindsight, if we [had] made the car something similar to what we had in the sprint. But we're always trying to move forwards," adding that "it's what it is."
Albeit a deflated performance when compared to his sprint pole and win, Hamilton does look kindly on the race weekend in China. "Yes, definitely take more positives from it. We've got a clear race run in the dry."
Ferrari two steps away from being at the top
However, the Scuderia are yet to take the necessary steps to jump its rivals. I can see where we are performance-wise. We still clearly have to improve our pace, the guys up ahead are pretty good. So we've got some work to do to close the gap and if we have to close the gap and pull ahead, it's two steps."
As far as the development battle is concerned, it can go wither way, with McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing all very close to each other. "I think it's going to be tough, it's going to be close, everyone's going to be bringing up upgrades at certain points through the season," finishing off with a hope that the Ferrari factory may provide the SF-25 with a few effective parts soon.