Can Ferrari compete with Mercedes? 'Too many opportunities missed'

Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur doubts the Formula 1 team can still overtake Mercedes in the constructors' championship rankings. With drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz then need to polish off a 56-point deficit on Mercedes. Speaking to GPblog, the team boss said his findings.

"There is a huge gap with Mercedes in terms of points, but also if I look at the first part of the season, we missed too many opportunities," the Ferrari team boss said. Not only Mercedes is ahead of Ferrari, but also Aston Martin. Fernando Alonso in particular scored a lot of points in the early part of the season.

"For sure, we need something a bit special if we want to catch up with Mercedes," Vasseur continued. "But I think the most important for me is to catch up with Mercedes in terms of pace. Then I don't know if we will finish second or not. It's another story. But I want to do a step forward in terms of pure performance compared to Mercedes in the second part of the season," the team boss of the Italian Scuderia told reporters.

Ferrari's catch-up should then happen in the remaining 10 races of the season, starting with the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort. The SF-23 is not done developing yet, the team boss tells us. "We still have some upgrades to come before the end of the season," he says.