Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel believes title rivals Mercedes head into the Belgian Grand Prix as favourites, but insists “we’re going to attack”, as Formula 1 returns from its summer break.
Mercedes put in its most dominant performance at the British Grand Prix, where aerodynamic efficiency is required, and similar characteristics are necessary at Spa-Francorchamps.
Vettel, who holds a 14-point title lead over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, expects the Silver Arrows to perform strongly, but insists Ferrari will not roll over, having learned from its Silverstone display
“There are some similarities [to Silverstone], obviously, but there are some things that are very different, so we'll see,” Vettel explained on Thursday.
“I think if we had to race at Silverstone again, I think we would do a lot better.
“We just didn't get a very good weekend altogether. It's true that Mercedes is very strong there.
“The fact that it's likely to be similar here, obviously for us makes it fairly straightforward. I think we have only to gain.
“Because of how strong they were at Silverstone and some similarities, I would say they are the favourites coming here.
“But for sure we're not going to settle behind them. We're going to attack, and we'll see what we can do.”
On whether Pirelli’s selection of Ultrasofts, Supersofts and Softs favoured Ferrari, Vettel replied: “I don't know, I think we need to go out and see.
“The track's changing here every year a little bit. We'll see how it has evolved.”
Ferrari has not taken victory at the Belgian Grand Prix since 2009.
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