F1 News

Vettel: There is still a long way to go, but we have to get stronger

Vettel: "There is still a long way to go, but we have to get stronger"

30-04-2019 10:13

Sebastian Vettel is adamant he can turn the World Championship deficit around after he slipped further behind the leading Mercedes following their fourth successive one-two at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas secured a second victory of the season in Baku to retake the Championship lead from teammate Lewis Hamilton who came second. Meanwhile, Vettel struggled again to keep the pace with his rivals as the Ferrari driver finished almost 12 seconds back.

The German is now 35 points off Bottas at the top of the standings but is still confident he can turn it around if the team can improve.

"No, there is still a long way to go, but we have to get stronger, that's true,” Vettel admitted.

"The first stint showed our weaknesses, so I lost seven seconds, in the second I was able to keep the gap between two and five seconds and Charles was not faster at the end with the soft."

Vettel also felt that Mercedes were having an easier time of achieving their cars potential adding: “I do not think our car is slow, Mercedes is very fast, yes, but it just seems easier to let it go, it clicks, it's harder for us, we have to work more for it than it does the secret is the tires so far, so we're missing something.”