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It has been universally agreed that Ferrari now have the best package on the grid, but it still isn’t convincing enough that they’ll claim the 2018 Formula One world championship.
Sebastian Vettel’s ten-second victory at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend sent a stern warning to the Scuderia’s rivals in Mercedes and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton, who was left quivering in defeat and questioning the ‘trick’ nature of the SF71H.
Despite this advantage, which Ferrari arguably have enjoyed since early in the season, the championship points still sit in favour of Hamilton, who has a 17-point lead over Vettel, and the Silver Arrows.
However, after stringing together a fifth win of the season at Spa, it is clear that when the stars align for them, Ferrari are unstoppable. But can they dominate in the same fashion their rivals in silver have done in previous years?
That is the contentious topic, as Ferrari have more than often found ways of throwing away results, especially when seemingly firmly tucked away. This was evident in the back-to-back events in Germany and Hungary before the midseason break, which gifted Hamilton a 24-point lead in the standings.
Leading his home race in a similarly commanding scenario as he did in Spa, Vettel put himself in the wall at the stadium section at the Hockenheimring despite being so close to another win and further extending his lead in the championship.
Budapest saw Mercedes take the initiative during wet qualifying to claim pole position, and then Hamilton got the better start to have the ascendency in the early part of the race. A slow pit stop from Ferrari ultimately then cost Vettel from a chance of pursuing the Briton.
(GEPA Pictures/Red Bull Content Pool).
There was the fear that this would play out again at Spa following another wet qualifying session which was taken out by Hamilton. After having the benefit of the draft going down the Kemmel straight on the first lap Vettel blasted past the reigning world champion and put that race in his pocket.
Winning this weekend at their home race in Italy will be a telling sign of whether they can truly claim this championship. It was always going to be Ferrari’s results in the second half of the season that would define their championship hopes.
In 2017, having had a strong first half, Vettel’s title tilt rapidly unravelled following consecutive podiums at Spa and Monza behind Hamilton. The first lap disaster in Singapore, throwing away a guaranteed victory, was the moment when the championship was lost, while the events of Malaysia and Japan pretty much buried all aspirations.
Regardless of having the fastest car now, it’s going to be whether Ferrari can fully utilise it to break their decade-long championship drought in 2018. Driver errors, pit-stop errors and strategic errors are a storm that constantly looms over the Prancing Horse’s head given their history.
Such is the prowess of Hamilton that when those calamitous moments occur for Ferrari, the Briton is there to capitalise with both hands, and in the end it’s about whoever claims the points at the chequered flag that wins the championship.
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