Vettel admits: I need to get better

Sebastian Vettel has urged Ferrari to remain calm as they attempt to recover from a poor first half of the season.

Twenty-nineteen has not been a vintage year for the Scuderia as they are the only one of the top three teams yet to win a race, with both Mercedes and Red Bull collecting victories via Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, and Max Verstappen.

Vettel has come under significant pressure, particularly from the partisan Italian sports media whose opinion carries weight with Ferrari.

However, he thinks the team should not overreact to the struggles as they look to bounce back in the second half of the season.

"Here and there, I didn't do the best job," said Vettel. "That's something I need to focus on and get better in the second half.

"The last couple of races were maybe a bit better for me, whereas some races, in the beginning, I struggled more with quite a lot of things.

"It's clear we're not where we want to be, you look at the points table, you look at a race like [Hungary], you look at the areas in tracks where we're lacking performance.

"We're addressing those things. We're working very hard, we're not short of commitment. The key is to remain calm, do our homework and try to catch up as much as we can."

The German reckons the team have identified one area in which they can improve, and thinks they could benefit from two tracks in Spa and Monza which could match the strengths of the car.

"We have room to improve, in the corners is where we're lacking,” Vettel added.

"With that obviously comes the advantage on the straight, one goes with the other, but if we could make a trade then we would go for it.

"We've been adding small bits to the car. They were working [in Hungary], but obviously not big enough to really get close.

"There might be tracks coming up next, especially with Spa and Monza, that might be better for us.

"But in the end, our ambition is to really force things to happen, [to] be in control of the race. Where we are now, we're quite far away from that."

Related

F1 Legends

STUNNING Vettel comeback compounds F1 champion's misery

• November 14, 2024 19:57

Latest F1 News

Vettel holds talks with F1 legend over ‘DREAM’ comeback

• November 11, 2024 18:59