Brawn: Ferrari and Vettel must improve under pressure

F1 managing director and former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn believes that Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel don't need to panic after losing the 2018 world drivers championship to Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.

The ex-Ferrari man believes that Ferrari and Vettel need to keep calmer under pressure and that overreacting to the disappointing collapse in the 2018 season would be a poor mistake to make.

"Ferrari and Vettel now have to start anew," he told Speed Week.

"And they can only do that if they understand what went wrong. They must then improve in those areas without panic or knee-jerk reactions."

Ferrari arguably had the faster car of the two title-contending teams in 2018, with Mercedes forced to play catchup for the first time since the beginning of the hybrid era in 2014.

Had Ferrari and Vettel executed a cleaner season and made fewer mistakes under the immense pressure of the Silver Arrows fightback, they might have well taken their first drivers and constructors title since 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Brawn was also quick to highlight that the incredible progress of Ferrari over the past two seasons should not be forgotten despite a sour end to 2018, adding that the team had made incredible strides that they can be proud of and carry forward into next season.

"In just two seasons, Ferrari has once more become a contender for titles.

"(That was) something that seemed difficult to imagine at the start of this hybrid era, given Mercedes undoubted power advantage.

"Now Ferrari has to move forward, without throwing any babies out with the bathwater."