Sebastian Vettel believes his victory at the Belgian Grand Prix is proof that Ferrari can now challenge for victory on every type of circuit.
While returning as genuine contenders to Mercedes at the start of last year, it was the high-speed circuits such as Silverstone, Spa and Monza where the power of the German manufacturer’s engine proved too strong.
That has all changed this season though, with big performance gains by the Italian team moving them ahead in the engine stakes as was proven by the ease with which Vettel passed Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap on Sunday.
“Very happy with how the start went. Turn 1 was crucial to set everything up,” he said. “I am not sure Lewis saw me. He pushed me quite far to the left, but I knew my chance would be later on, up the hill.
“I think the timing was right. I managed that perfectly, I thought, last year I was always ending up short,” he recalled. “It seems like it was better this year because we had a little bit less wing, and timing is crucial.”
From that point on the 31-year-old controlled the pace, going on to claim a comfortable win by 11 seconds over his main championship rival and moving him ahead of Alain Prost into third in the all-time F1 wins list.
More wins than Alain? Wow,” he said after number 52 of his career. “I really enjoyed the race, to get time on this track is always quite nice – in a great car as well!”
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The result also sees him move to within 17 points of Hamilton and with the momentum on his side with the next two races in Monza and Singapore also expected to suit the Scuderia.
“We had a new engine this weekend which gave us a little bit more power, and I like to think a little more help and boost down the straight. It’s good to see it all comes together when it works,” he said.
“[I’m] looking forward to going to Italy. Racing in Italy is special for us with it being Ferraris’ home race so it should be a lot of fun.
“We have a good car that seems to work everywhere. I don’t think the car was there right from the beginning but I think we’ve got it now to a point where it seems to work everywhere and we’re competitive.
“On all fronts, I think we’ve made a step forward, it’s key to have a car that works everywhere because that’s been our weakness and I think we’ve tackled it fairly well.”
