After new victory, Ferrari boss minimizes dispute for F1 title

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur refused to talk about his team's Formula 1 championship chances, even after celebrating their second victory in three races.

The Italian team has not won a title since 2008, but is now 78 points behind Mercedes in the constructors' standings, while seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is in third place overall, 32 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc, who won the British Grand Prix on Sunday, a month after his teammate Hamilton's victory in Spain, is in fourth place, 39 points behind the leader.

"Contest for the championship are his words," said Vasseur when asked about what is shaping up as a battle between Mercedes and Ferrari at the top of the table and the narrowing gap between the teams, although neither Ferrari has reached the podium in Austria between their victories.

"After Barcelona, people said that Ferrari was back in the championship. I said no. The following week, you told me that Ferrari was out of the game. I said no."

"I'll take the same approach with everyone at home, even if I'm not in the office tomorrow. I'll say, 'Guys, we had a good weekend. Now let's focus on Spa. It's not that we're champions. We're nowhere. We're improving step by step, but that's the way it is.'"

Looking forward to the next
The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps is the next challenge, with Leclerc having won there in 2019 - a different era, before current engines - and Hamilton also triumphing in previous visits with Mercedes and McLaren.

Vasseur believed that Mercedes, winners of seven of the nine Grands Prix and who started on pole position in all of them, still had a small advantage in terms of pure performance, even if Ferrari looked strong at the start and at race pace.

Hamilton and Leclerc believed they could compete on equal terms with Ferrari, and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff agreed that they were strong rivals and that this rivalry could continue for the rest of the season.

George Russell, who was lucky to finish second on Sunday thanks to the safety car's entry and the mechanical problem that prevented Antonelli from scoring, said Ferrari were clearly in contention.

"These Ferrari guys look really fast. So yeah, let the game begin," said the Brit.

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Source: CNN