Vettel: Belief in myself and Ferrari stronger than ever

Sebastian Vettel insists his belief in Ferrari is “even stronger” than ever before amid the Italian team’s quest to end its long wait for a Formula 1 world championship.

Ferrari bids to bring Mercedes’ dominant run in F1 to a close in 2019, having not won a title of any description for over a decade. The Scuderia’s last constructors’ world championship success came in 2008, while Kimi Raikkonen remains the last driver to win a title for Ferrari thanks to his 2007 triumph.

Mercedes has won every single world championship on offer since the start of the V6 hybrid era in 2014 and could go on to make further history by becoming the first team to win six world championship doubles in a row, a feat which would surpass Ferrari’s record in the process.

After an underwhelming start to the 2019 campaign in Australia where Ferrari’s front-running pace from pre-season testing didn’t materialise, the Italian squad has stormed back in Bahrain dominating throughout practice before locking out the front row in qualifying with Charles Leclerc securing his maiden F1 pole position.

Speaking about Ferrari’s prospects before the Bahrain Grand Prix, Vettel underlined his confidence in his team following a run of near-miss seasons hunting F1 world titles against Mercedes.

“I think [it is] even stronger,” Vettel responded when asked if his belief in Ferrari remains strong.

“Last year in the second half of the season when things went against what we hoped I still think there were plenty of positives: we built a very strong car and we were able to develop that car until the summer break.

“Then we started to get a bit wobbly understanding what was right with the car, we developed in the wrong direction and by the time we got it back there were three or four races that were crucial and we lost too much.

“Overall, there were positives. I think it is specific to motorsport and Formula 1 especially, if you win everything is fine but if you come second it must have been horrible.

“I don’t think so as we still had highlights from last year with plenty of positives and made a good effort to finish second.”

Vettel has suffered recent setbacks in the last two seasons following successive title defeats at the hands of Mercedes and five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Asked if he felt bruised by coming out second to Hamilton, Vettel replied: “No. I think I didn’t lose out personally against him it was a team effort and I think we got beaten fair and square.

“The gap wasn’t minimal and it didn’t come down to just one thing in the end, or certainly it was a lot bigger than we hoped.

“But we got beaten by him and I got beaten by him, beaten by Mercedes. Bruised is not nice when you say it.”