Vettel: Mercedes close to perfection

Sebastian Vettel says Mercedes are "close to perfection", having wrapped up a sixth consecutive title double at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas won at Suzuka, with Lewis Hamilton in third with the extra point for fastest lap to secure the constructors' championship and eliminate all other drivers bar the Silver Arrows' from the individual title race.

Ferrari's billing as pre-season favourites was soon put to bed as Mercedes won the first eight races of the year and the Silver Arrows' sixth-straight title double sets a new benchmark, eclipsing the Scuderia's run of success with Michael Schumacher at the turn of the century.

Vettel says Ferrari have "the ingredients" to finally bring Mercedes' run to an end, but highlighted how much better they still have to perform.

"It's very difficult, obviously you can't see what they are doing but I think from the outside they are very close to perfection every time they go out on track so very consistent, very little mistakes.

"That's certainly also part of what makes them so strong but yeah, if you clinch the Constructors' title with four races to go there's a lot of things you do better than all the others.

"If you go into detail then you can argue what their car is maybe doing better than ours but I don't think that's the point overall, it's a team effort and as I said, I think we do have the ingredients, we do have the commitment, we do have the intelligence but we just need to do it better.

"It's a lot of small things; it's not one thing that we need to improve, it's a lot of small things that we need to do better, every single one of us and that's the only way that we can try and step up.

"Hopefully they get a bit bored, we will see what happens."

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