Flavio Briatore: "Ferrari can win 2018 title"

Ferrari really can win the 2018 world championship. That is the view of former Renault boss Flavio Briatore, after Sebastian Vettel won the opening two races of the season in Australia and Bahrain. "This Ferrari is better than the last," he told Italian Rai radio. "I would say that it is on par with the Mercedes and we will finally see a good championship with two teams having a 50 per cent chance to win the races," Briatore added.

That is despite the fact that, in Australia, Mercedes seemed to have clearly the faster car even though Vettel ultimately won. "Australia is not typical," Briatore explained. "Bahrain is more indicative and there, Ferrari did a great race. They changed strategy at the right time and Vettel drove in an incredible way at the end with his tyres like that."

However, Briatore thinks Vettel was lucky that it was Valtteri Bottas chasing him in Bahrain rather than Lewis Hamilton. "Had Hamilton been behind in Bottas' place it would have been different but still Ferrari is very competitive. Now it will be down to development," he said.

Former Ferrari driver Jean Alesi agrees that the Maranello team might now be ready for the title. "I was there and I saw so much professionalism," he told RMC, referring to the Bahrain grand prix. "Before when they won a race there was great euphoria, but in Sakhir I noticed a lot of concentration." (GMM)