Susie Wolff confident Sebastian Vettel still has a chance to win the 2017 F1 title. Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda also thinks the title race is still on.

British former racing driver Susie Wolff thinks the race for the world championship is still “open”. That is despite the fact that Mercedes driver and current Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who drives for the team run by Wolff’s husband Toto, has a huge 59-point lead over Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel.

Former Williams driver Wolff, 34, admits Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton is in good form: “Lewis is very relaxed this year, and you can see that he enjoys the fight with Ferrari,” she said, as reported by Sky Italia on Friday – “In the last years he was always against his teammate, which is always difficult. He’s in his best form now,” Susie Wolff, a former DTM driver, added.

But she also thinks that Sebastian Vettel can still push for the 2017 Formula One title, despite his and the Maranello team’s horror Asian tour through Singapore, Malaysia and Japan: “In my view Vettel was just unlucky,” said Wolff – “Ferrari has a very fast car and I can imagine the title race remaining open until the end. When you consider how far away Ferrari was last year, it’s been a great turnaround. It is going to be very interesting because a couple of the circuits (coming up) are not Mercedes circuits, or will suit the Ferrari more,” she added – It is not like last year where it’s quite clear what is going to happen so I think we’ll see a huge fight.” – Susie Wolff concluded, as reported by the Italian media.

Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda agrees, saying that while Lewis Hamilton is in a commanding position, the fight for the 2017 Formula One world championship is not won yet. “Suzuka was an incredible step forward,” he told Auto Motor und Sport. “But the title is still not in the bag.”