Ferrari: Not all is lost in F1 title fight

Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene has sent out a rallying cry to his team and is confident the Italian manufacturer will continue to fight in the Formula 1 world championship despite the deficit growing in Singapore.

Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel now face a 40-point gap to F1 world championship leader Lewis Hamilton after a frustrating race where ‘boredom was the winner’ according to a post-race team release.

As Hamilton secured victory, Vettel lost out to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during the pit stop phase to see the Dutch driver skate ahead into second place.

With Vettel in third at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, the German driver has clinched victory just once in the past five races, with Hamilton winning the other four, to see the F1 championship points gap grown to its largest all year.

Despite his team’s frustrations, Arrivabene is hopeful of a fightback over the final six races starting in Russia – an event Mercedes has dominated at with four consecutive wins since Sochi’s arrival on the F1 calendar in 2014.

“Despite the result, not all is lost,” Arrivabene said. “Now, calmly and with determination, we will tackle the remaining six races, fighting all the way to the end.

“The winner deserved the victory. After Sebastian overtook Verstappen, we went for an aggressive strategy, trying for the undercut on the Ultrasoft tyres.

“Unfortunately, during the one lap that would prove to be crucial, we found ourselves behind another car and so we were unable to run at a fast-enough pace.”

Ferrari has also lost significant ground in the F1 world constructors’ championship with Mercedes stretching out its lead to 37 points.