Sebastian Vettel claims he and Ferrari are ready to win the Formula 1 championship, it is simply upto them to perform in 2019.
After two seasons of building a platform to challenge for the title only to slip back in the second half of the year, the pressure is building on the German/Italian partnership to finally bring success back to Maranello.
This month, Ferrari looked to boost their chances by replacing team boss Maurizio Arrivabene with technical director Mattia Binotto and Vettel is confident the team is now capable of going all the way.
“We’ve got the ingredients and it’s down to us to do the job,” Vettel said while competing at the Race of Champions this past weekend.
Much will depend on the relative performance of the front-running teams and how much progress Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have made during the winter period.
Indeed, Vettel agreed that making predictions now was futile.
“It’s difficult to say at this time of year. Everybody’s still in the dark, we’re waiting for the cars to come and then get a feel and we’ll see in the first race,” he added. “But looking forward, it’ll be a big challenge, what we want to achieve I think is clear.
“In terms of support, I think here also there were a lot of Ferrari fans so we’re not lacking in terms of support.”
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The 31-year-old’s year didn’t exactly get off to a great start, however, in Mexico as, despite finishing second with Mick Schumacher in the Nations Cup on Saturday, the 19-year-old prodigy would beat him in a head-to-head race on Sunday, knocking him out of the individual event.
“It’s a long year ahead of us and maybe not the start I was looking for,” Vettel commented.
“It’s a fun event and I think we’ve had fun and it’s great to be here. At the end I think only one can win so I think all the rest of us, we are in a way disappointed. But that’s the name of the game.
“I think it was a fun competition, I would have liked to go a bit further, to drive a bit more, but sometimes it’s like this.
“Nevertheless it’s been a great day, a great two days with a great crowd coming today and good support. I think we all enjoyed it.”