4
Sebastian Vettel acknowledges that Ferrari is struggling with Pirelli's small tyre window this year more than its rivals.
The Scuderia outfit has watched Mercedes take five one-two finishes at the opening five races of the 2019 season, while Ferrari has three third-place finishes to its name.
MORE: Ferrari 'evaluating new concepts' for 2019 car
Vettel admits that the SF90 is not fast enough to compete against Mercedes, but also affirmed that the Maranello squad is finding difficulty in understanding the Pirelli tyres.
"There's always a possibility to learn," Vettel said ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. "Tyres are different this year and it looks like we're struggling a bit more than others.
"To be completely honest, the tyres are very very sensitive and extremely difficult to understand.
"It's a combination of things. One our car is not quick enough, which is something we learned more than once. But also, unfortunately, the window is so small, extremely small to hit.
"You can see sometimes big differences in lap times across the same driver or inside the same team. It's the feedback we get from inside the car from the tyres. Sometimes it feels better, sometimes it feels worse."
Vettel insisted that Ferrari is working hard to overcome the issues so that it helps the team in the long term and in its fight against Mercedes for the world championship.
"There is a lot of engineering science trying to overcome these random scenarios. We're doing our best, but also other people are understanding more than we do currently.
"But as I said previously. We're trying to understanding more and more for tomorrow, but also in the next weeks and going forward and looking forward to next year."
Mercedes already holds a 96 point gap to Ferrari in the constructors' championship, while Vettel is 48 points down on the drivers' championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
United Arab Emirates
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
Replies (4)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
I fear its already too late
abhidbgt
Posts: 283
Share the same fear.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Good luck Seb! Unless Ham goes to cheese nation, you are stuck here. Oh! Please don’t go Indy. Don’t even think of it.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Technically, it isn't too late just yet, but Ferrari will somehow mess it up, so yeah it probably is too late.