Are Ferrari back? Nico Rosberg explains Sebastian Vettel pole means nothing

Sebastian Vettel

Are Ferrari back? Rosberg explains Vettel pole means nothing

Is Nico right?

Matthew Scott

Sunday 9 June 2019 12:05

Nico Rosberg believes Sebastian Vettel's Canadian Grand Prix pole position means nothing in their fight with Mercedes, saying it only proves that the Scuderia will continue to struggle against the Silver Arrows long-term rather than mount a comeback against them.

Vettel took P1 in Montreal by two tenths of a second from Lewis Hamilton, his first pole position since last year's fateful German GP.

Ferrari had been tipped for greater success at the power-hungry Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, having seemingly built a stronger engine than Mercedes, but seeing races slip through their hands in the corners so far this year.

With Mercedes having won the first six races of the year, on a mixed combination of circuits, Rosberg sees no reason to get excited for the title battle on the basis of Vettel's Canada success.

In a YouTube post, Rosberg said: "He absolutely bombed it, it was a beautiful lap, perfect. Two-tenths quicker than Lewis, six-tenths quicker than [Charles] Leclerc, fantastic.

"I'm really, really happy for Vettel actually. For his mental game that's going to be really, really crucial and it gives him a great opportunity to win so that's real powerful."

He added: "You have to build the car so it's average and ideal for all tracks right in the middle. Then of course for Monaco it's not going to be ideal, it's just slow speeds so you need max downforce and Montreal isn't ideal either because you need to be faster on the straights.

"This is where it was clear again today how Ferrari just got their concept wrong on their car.

"As soon as you go to one of the extreme high-speed tracks like Montreal, of which there's only two because there's only Montreal and Monza, boom they're in front again and the fastest car – but only just.

"Then when you go to Monaco, the other extreme, they're just nowhere. All the other tracks in the middle as well, they're just struggling.

"They just got their concept wrong and went too far on one side. They need to move that concept back to being fast on the average track.

"Are Ferrari back? I don't think they're back. On this track they're back, everywhere else they won't be. That's a pity and they still have a lot of work to do."