Vettel warns Hamilton: Ferrari strong everywhere now

Sebastian Vettel has fired an ominous warning to Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, suggesting that Ferrari's current stronghold in the Formula 1 title race should be replicated across all eight remaining races. Vettel struggled to capitalise on Ferrari's greater pace in Germany and Hungary, but cut Hamilton's championship lead to 17 points with a dominant Belgian Grand Prix victory.

Vettel has lost leads in the championship due to errors in Azerbaijan, France and Germany this year, but nervous noises emerging from the Mercedes camp suggest that the Scuderia actually hold the upper hand in both championships - despite sitting in second.

Last year's title race was painted by Hamilton and Vettel swapping strong performances as their cars suited different tracks better, but the German says that is not the case in 2018.

"We have a good car that seems to work everywhere," he said.

"I don't think the car was there right from the beginning. I think we got it now to a point where it seems to work everywhere and we are competitive."

Ferrari's upturn in 2018 has been largely put down to an evident power boost that they have uncovered - especially since the Canadian Grand Prix - but Vettel says the car has become a true all-round performer.

"I think it's a huge compliment if people praise our engine because the last five years people didn't praise anything else but the Mercedes engine," he said.

"So it's good to have that change and I think it makes Maranello and the engine department very, very happy.

"Everybody involved can be very proud and I think the key is not only that, the key is teamwork. the car is working in all sorts of tracks, is efficient and I think that's the key to bring everything together.

"I think this year the car seems to be more robust and seems to work everywhere.

"Needless to say that we improved the package as well, power unit, so on all fronts I think we've done a step forward. It is a key to have a car that works everywhere because that's been our weakness and I think we tackled it well."