Ferrari wins came from Mercedes failures - Wolff
"We have lost those points, and the others are catching up"
Toto Wolff has played down Ferrari’s two victories this season, arguing that Mercedes lost both races through circumstance and reliability rather than outright performance.
Ferrari has reduced Mercedes’ constructors’ championship lead to 72 points after winning in Barcelona and Silverstone, while McLaren has also moved forward with recent upgrades.
"Ferrari’s two victories came because we lost them," Wolff is quoted as saying by Eurosport Italia.
"We were unlucky in Barcelona with the Safety Car and then with Kimi’s problems at Silverstone.
"We started the season very solidly. As a company and as a team, the integration between the power unit and the chassis allowed us to achieve clearly dominant results."
"But we were hit hard by reliability - we had three or four retirements. We probably lost 70 or 80 points due to missed finishes compared to Ferrari."
"Today we have a 72 point advantage, but if we were to add another 70, the margin would be much wider."
"However, we have lost those points, and the others are catching up."
Wolff also admitted Mercedes has been out-developed in recent races.
"When someone brings updates, they take a step up," said the Austrian.
"We saw Ferrari and McLaren introduce developments, unlike us, and suddenly we found ourselves fighting hard."
Meanwhile, Ferrari technical director Loic Serra, who joined from Mercedes, rejected suggestions that the improving SF-26 should be regarded as his car.
"I don’t consider this car ’mine’," he told Italy’s Autosprint.
"Rather, it’s the result of the work of a great team made up of many professionals. It’s a constantly evolving project, the subject of constant development."
Serra said Ferrari’s final judgement must wait until the season is complete. "A rating for this Ferrari? We’ll only be able to give that at the end of the season."
"In F1, those who aren’t focused on tomorrow are inexorably destined to fail. It’s the progression of development that counts."
"We can never be completely satisfied. We must always strive to go further, to push ourselves further."