Sebastian Vettel has praised Mercedes for its performance in the 2019 Formula 1 season, believing the team has been “close to perfection”.
Mercedes wrapped up its sixth straight Constructors’ Championship in Japan – matching Ferrari’s 1999 to 2004 record – courtesy of Valtteri Bottas’ victory.
That win was Mercedes’ 12th from 17 grands prix this year, ensuring it has already exceeded its 2018 tally, with four races still remaining.
Ferrari, with three wins and seven pole positions, has been Mercedes’ nearest opponent, but remains 179 points adrift, having missed out on several opportunities to reduce the deficit.
“Obviously you can’t see what they are doing [internally] but I think from the outside they are very close to perfection every time they go out on track so they are very consistent, [they made] very little mistakes,” said Vettel.
“That’s certainly also part of what makes them so strong; if you clinch the Constructors’ title with four races to go there’s a lot of things you do better than all the others.
“If you go into detail then you can argue what their car is maybe doing better than ours but I don’t think that’s the point overall, it’s a team effort.
“I think we [at Ferrari] do have the ingredients, we do have the commitment, we do have the intelligence but we just need to do it better.
“It’s a lot of small things; it’s not one thing that we need to improve, it’s a lot of small things that we need to do better, every single one of us and that’s the only way that we can try and step up.
“Hopefully they get a bit bored, we will see what happens!”
Ferrari has emerged as a stronger threat since the summer break, having had the fastest package in each qualifying session, along with its three wins.
It also should have won with Charles Leclerc in Russia but for a mis-timed Virtual Safety Car period, caused by Vettel’s stoppage, while a front-row lockout in Japan was wasted amid a poor first lap.
“I think we’ve learned a lot about our car, the weaknesses, we’ve improved it but we’re still not there,” said Vettel.
“We’ve had a strong couple of races but overall I think we’re still a little bit behind.”
