Sebastian Vettel has vowed Ferrari will continue to take the fight to Mercedes in the Formula 1 title chase despite suffering a setback at the Scuderia’s home race at Monza on Sunday.
The four-time world champion lost the lead to main rival Lewis Hamilton for the first time in 2017, as the Maranello-based team simply couldn’t keep pace with the Silver Arrows at the Italian Grand Prix.
Though the result was obviously not what he or the Tifosi had wanted, the third place finish still brought some joy as Vettel addressed the partisan crowd from the famous podium overlooking the main straight.
“It was entertaining, quite good fun,” he said of the race. “My start wasn’t so good as I had quite a lot of wheel spin. It took a while before I could really trust the car and make some progress. Then we got some good overtaking.
“We were a bit isolated and didn’t have the pace of the leading two drivers today. Nevertheless going around seeing the people gives us a lot of hope.”
It was always expected that the engine advantage Mercedes has would give them the edge at Ferrari, but the margin of victory on Sunday certainly surprised many, nevertheless, Vettel, who has never lost a championship in which he has previously led, is sure the result will not mark a drop in form over the remaining seven races.
“Even if this race has been difficult I know we have a very, very strong car and will have a very, very strong end of the season,” he claimed.
