Mika Hakkinen: Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc can challenge Mercedes every weekend but they need support. Mika Hakkinen comments on the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix.

In his post-race column for Unibet, two-time Formula One world champion Mika Hakkinen comments on the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix, highlighting that Scuderia Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc can successfully challenge Mercedes with the right support and strategy calls from the Maranello team:

“This also helped to show how much work Ferrari still has to do – developing a car quick enough to dominate qualifying, having a clearly defined race strategy and eliminating any potential for conflict between their drivers. Charles Leclerc made a better start to the race than Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel and should really have been allowed to get on with it and take the fight to Bottas if he could. Instead he was asked to slow down and let Vettel past, which looked like a mistake.” – he said

Sebastian Vettel is now 31 points behind championship leader Hamilton and just one point clear of Charles Leclerc, while Ferrari already finds itself 57 points adrift of Mercedes after three rounds.

“When you have a team as strong as Mercedes to beat there is no point playing games,” Hakkinen added. “Ferrari needs to stop focussing on themselves and start concentrating on beating the competition. In the battle to beat Mercedes no one should care whether it is Leclerc or Vettel who wins the race. I think Leclerc was right to be upset, because the subsequent strategy managed him back into fifth position, behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. Vettel and Leclerc have the potential to be the strongest competition to Mercedes every weekend, but they need to give the drivers the support, flexibility and focus to do that. Forget about team orders, concentrate on the team winning. Three races into 2019 and, in spite of Ferrari having the strongest engine and a good package, Mercedes continues to dominate. The mistakes of the other teams are helping them, and we must hope that Ferrari and Red Bull Racing can deliver a more consistent challenge in the races ahead.” – Mika Hakkinen concluded.