Vasseur: Don't ask me about Ferrari's championship chances yet

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has shut down any premature championship speculation following the team's recent resurgence, insisting one strong weekend does not erase the struggles seen just days earlier. After Lewis Hamilton's breakthrough victory in Spain and Charles Leclerc's morale-boosting win at Silverstone, Maranello has suddenly found itself back in the title conversation, but Vasseur is refusing to look beyond the next race.

Why it matters:

Ferrari's roller-coaster season has produced extreme highs and crushing lows in rapid succession. The dominant displays in Barcelona and at the British GP were sandwiched around a dismal Austrian GP where the team was nowhere, a pattern Vasseur says proves they are not yet consistent enough to challenge Mercedes for either championship.

The details:

• Mixed fortunes: Hamilton's win in Spain and Leclerc's victory at Silverstone marked two triumphs in three races, yet the Austrian GP between them served as a stark reminder of Ferrari's vulnerability.
• Points picture: Hamilton sits just 32 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli, while Ferrari trails Mercedes by 78 points in the constructors' standings with over half the season remaining.
• Vasseur's stance: "I never try to draw a conclusion after one race, two races, a good result, a bad result," he said. "It's your job to speak about the championship, but I never did it."
• Mercedes benchmark: Vasseur freely admits Mercedes still holds a "small advantage on pure performance" and that the W17 remains the package to beat across most circuits.

What's next:

The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps presents a fresh test for the 2026 power units, with long straights and heavy energy harvesting demands offering a very different challenge to Silverstone. Vasseur warned that there is "no magic" in Formula 1, emphasizing that only the steady accumulation of "small gains everywhere" will allow Ferrari to genuinely bridge the gap to Mercedes.