Ferrari Formula 1 boss Fred Vasseur expects the World Championship battle to remain close with no single team dominating over the remaining races.
The Italian outfit is currently 36 points behind leaders McLaren, with Red Bull Racing third and still mathematically in the hunt.
Vasseur says that none of the teams in the fight has more momentum that the others.
“It’s not a matter of momentum this season,” he said. “If you have a look, I think Red Bull was dominating the first three or four races at the beginning of the season.
“Then we had a good sequence, and then it was Mercedes during the summertime and then it was McLaren again and us again.
“It’s so tight that it’s moving from one weekend to another one. It’s not the momentum, or whatever. Now we have the last three events in front of us with completely different characteristics for the track, for the temperature and so on.
“And it’s not a matter of one car dominating. I keep in mind the weekend of Spa when you had Verstappen FP1, and then the McLaren FP2, and then it was probably Mercedes FP3.
“Then we started from the pole, and then Mercedes won the race. And the four teams were dominating one session during the weekend.
“And I think it will be like this until the end of the season. It means that you have to be at the right moment at the right place. But it’s not a matter that someone will dominate the next four or five events.”
Vasseur conceded that Ferrari has made good progress this season, but stressed that the only thing that matters will be the final championship outcome.
“I think last year we won one race,” he said. “This year we are at five, we scored perhaps 50% more points than one year ago. For sure, we are on the right way. But at the end, the evening of Abu Dhabi, we will be just focussed on the classification, not on the numbers and the figures.
“And for sure, the closer you are to the end, the more the championship is important. But the best way for us is just to be focused race-by-race, to be focused on this one, on the FP2 and then the FP3, and not to think about the championship, because it’s the best way to be disconnected.”
