Vettel accepts Marchionne’s criticisms as ‘fair enough’

Sebastian Vettel feels 2017 will be remembered as a Formula 1 world championship of “what could have been” after accepting Ferrari President Sergio Marchionne's criticism about driver mistakes being partly to blame for losing out on the world titles.

The Ferrari driver conceded the F1 world drivers’ championship to Lewis Hamilton last time out in Mexico and is now turning his attention to securing second place in the standings having seen Valtteri Bottas close to 15 points off.

After losing the title, Ferrari President Marchionne blamed a combination of reliability mistakes and driver errors for the team’s failings in 2017 against Mercedes.

Vettel has held his hands up at the driver errors – most notably clashing with Hamilton behind the safety car at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – as he aims for a winning end to the year in the final two races.

“I think it’s fair enough,” Vettel said when quizzed about Marchionne’s comments. “I think there are always things that you could do a bit different.

“Overall, I think we can all agree that we didn’t have the season, up to this point, that we could’ve had or should’ve had for various reasons.”

Vettel remains upbeat about Ferrari’s potential to taste victory in the final two races of 2017 in Brazil and Abu Dhabi which he feels would act as timely momentum heading into winter preparations for next season. Despite claiming four wins so far in 2017, Vettel’s last victory came before the summer break and the Hungarian Grand Prix with just three podiums from the past seven races.

“I think we have a chance to win the race,” Vettel said. “We should always look at the chance we have ahead and I think we have a chance.

“Obviously it depends on what’s going on, how the weekend goes as I’ve said before, but I think generally that’s something to look forward to if you have a chance to win.”