Ferrari boss Frédéric Vasseur has denied claims the team has missed too many opportunities this year and that it will ultimately cost it the constructors' championship.
With just two rounds remaining in the 2024 season, Ferrari are 24 points behind McLaren as they chase their first F1 title since the 2008 constructors' title, with McLaren fighting for their first since 1998.
Neither team has won a title since sharing the crowns in 2008, with Lewis Hamilton snatching the drivers' title for McLaren.
McLaren, however, remains favorite, notably because Qatar should be a perfect fit for the MCL38. Enough to definitively drive the point home in the constructors' championship thanks to the Sprint?
Red Bull is also in the race, but is 53 points behind McLaren with 103 points left to score in Qatar (with a Sprint) and Abu Dhabi.
So has Ferrari missed too many opportunities compared to McLaren this year? Vasseur doesn't believe him.
“It's easy, it's always easy at the end of the season to say without the crash in Singapore [de Carlos Sainz en qualifications]or without this or without that, we would have been champions,” replies Vasseur.
“I think it's true for McLaren, they've had problems too, it's true for everyone on the grid, we've all missed opportunities.”
“Part of the job is not only to have the best car, but also to score as many points as we can during the season.”
“It's true that Baku wasn't the best, nor Singapore, and we struggled in terms of pure performance in Spain, the UK and Austria, but the reaction was good because after three races, we were back on the pace at Spa.”
“But it is true that in terms of pure performance, on one lap, it was the weak point of our season.”
