F1 | Vettel encourages Ferrari: "We are faster than Mercedes and we can win anywhere"

Despite the big bang caused by the collision with Lance Stroll in Malaysia, the gearbox of Sebastian Vettel's SF70-H does not appear to have suffered such serious damage as to force Scuderia Ferrari to replace it in Japan. The unit, we recall, was immediately sent to Maranello for some more in-depth checks.

Ferrari was hoping for a miracle since impacts like those on Sunday, in 90% of cases, cause "unresolvable" damage to the transmission. However, the men in the factory would not have found any major damage, which is why Sebastian Vettel's weekend in the Land of the Rising Sun is unlikely to be ruined by a grid penalty.

Sebastian Vettel himself, interviewed by Auto Motor Und Sport about the recent reliability problems that have afflicted the SF70-H, tried to calm things down, underlining that during the last season there were no serious problems regarding the mechanics of the car : “It's definitely not ideal to have two similar problems in one weekend, but we can't complain about our reliability either. The whole season has been good and we have never had any problems of this type."

“Such things happen when you are forced to touch the limit”, continued the German, underlining how chasing Mercedes clearly caused side effects. “On the other hand, however, we have a good package, in my opinion even superior to Mercedes, and our speed is very promising. I'm optimistic and I think we can win anywhere."

Kimi Raikkonen is of the same opinion and did not want to give support to the rumors that have circulated in recent days: “The problems are no one's fault. In Malaysia we faced a difficult weekend, but I'm sure we'll get back on track. We have a great car and we will work to avoid having problems of that type again."