Sebastian Vettel is only focused on achieving the best result in Azerbaijan rather than “turning around” his season.
A stuttery start from the four-time world champion has already left him over 30 points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton and questions are being asked as to whether he can challenge for the title.
The unpredictable race on Baku’s street circuit is seen as an opportunity for Vettel to finally score that big result, but the broader impact is less important to the German.
“I know that some people like to put it that this is the ‘turning around’ or the ‘decider’ or so on,” he commented on Thursday.
“I think we have a lot of races left and hopefully at one point we can look back and say this was the decider and the decisive moment. Right now, I don’t know and I don’t really care.
“We want to win, that’s for any race we go to. I think we have a very strong package and I’m confident that if we can get it in the right place then we should be able to show that and give the others a very, very hard time.”
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The problem Ferrari has is Hamilton and Mercedes appear an even stronger combination that ever in the face of what they saw as a major deficit to the Italian team after testing.
Yet stopping that momentum isn’t being considered a priority for now.
“Yeah, I’m not thinking that it all depends on one single moment,” Vettel said. “For sure if we do another 17 races like this then we know also it’s too late to turn it around.
“We’re aware of that but being aware of that doesn’t mean that now is the decisive moment.”
Instead, Vettel believes the focus should be on maximising everything going forward.
“I think any day is important, any Friday, any Saturday, any Sunday even the days off, setting the path in terms of development for the future, so there are no off days,” he concluded.