Rosberg: 'That can give us hope of Leclerc's comeback'

Nico Rosberg believes that some changes need to be made internally at Ferrari if they are to seriously challenge Red Bull Racing in the battle for the world championship. The 2016 world champion does not think it is impossible, however, as he believes the F1-75 is a lot faster than the RB18.

"It puts him in a quite comfortable position. The only thing is, let's not forget, that Ferrari seem to have the better car at the moment," Rosberg told Sky Sports. Over the whole weekend, Ferrari were the better side in the former Mercedes driver's view. "They out-qualified Red Bull and Leclerc was running away with the win as well just before he spun. Everything was going their way."

Ferrari were aiming for a one-stop stop prior to the Grand Prix and it seemed to be working out well. "They were able to do their one-stop strategy most likely, things were going really well, so that can give us hope that Leclerc can still stage a comeback in the championship in the remaining race," he stated. Leclerc is still not without a chance, despite his large deficit of 63 points to Max Verstappen. "It's still to play for."

Does the resurrection of Mercedes offer hope?

Ferrari's good fortune could possibly be that Mercedes can start to get involved in the front two battle after the summer break. The W13 is getting faster and faster and if they can keep up this pace, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell may be able to fight for victories on their own later in 2022. This is advantageous for Ferrari as Mercedes will be able to take points away from Red Bull. Vice versa, of course, this is also true.

Rosberg: "They were close to the pace of the Ferraris and the Red Bulls, especially if you look at the first stint. Lewis dropped about six seconds early on and then was pretty consistent there and even closed the gap a little bit. That was really a big positive now for Mercedes again." In terms of race pace, things are looking pretty good for the German formation, but especially in qualifying they still need to find some speed.