Vettel: We deserve more credit than Mercedes

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel believes that his team deserve more credit than Mercedes this season, as he points to how the Italian squad have closed the gap on the once dominant Silver Arrows.

Speaking to reporters on the eve of Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Vettel said, “So far this season is really, really good for us. Let’s not forget that for the last three years Mercedes blew everyone else away.

“They improved their chassis quite a lot from 2014 to 2016 so as a team they have obviously grown a lot but so far this year we have been more or less the same on pace and l think that is more credit to us than them.

“They’ve had that sort of development pace for the last couple of years, so it is more credit to us that we can go at their pace so far,” he added.

Mercedes were on the back-foot after a below par Monaco Grand Prix, but bounced back admirably to score one-two in Canada, snatching the balance of power away from the Reds.

Vettel acknowledges, “It is going to be crucial to keep up the development race. This is a very important year for us. We are working well and things are coming together.”

“We are starting to see some of the results of what we tried to put into place a while ago. Hopefully this is just the beginning and there is a lot more to come. I feel very comfortable.”

Looking back on last year’s race at Baku, Vettel believes he could have won the race but fluffed it, “Last year was 90 per cent me and 10 per cent the car. We changed something on the car from Friday to Saturday which wasn’t good but it wouldn’t have stopped me winning the race.”

“I could have easily won the race but l just didn’t deliver. I’m here to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” added Vettel who tops the drivers standings after seven rounds, and will be hunting a fourth victory of the season on Sunday.

Big Question: Will Ferrari bounce back in Baku?