Vasseur reacts to startling Alonso Ferrari claim

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has responded to Fernando Alonso's suggestion the Italian squad is the favourite for the upcoming rounds.

Ferrari has slipped back in the pecking order of late and has often been the fourth-fastest team behind Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes.

Following the Dutch Grand Prix where Ferrari bagged a podium result with Charles Leclerc, Alonso suggested the Maranello-based outfit will be the “team to beat” at Monza next weekend.

Vasseur has downplayed the suggestion and asserted his team will not take an altered approach for the events ahead.

“If he's trying to put pressure [on us], he has to be sure that I won't read the Twitter of Fernando Alonso,” Vasseur told media including RacingNews365. “I don't have Twitter!

“I don't need to have someone telling me that we are the favourite or not. We will have exactly the same approach.

“I hope that we will be in better shape in the next two or three events. We were in a much better shape last year on these tracks.”

Ferrari expecting improved form

Ferrari scored a podium at Monza last year before taking victory at Singapore - the only non-Red Bull win from last season's championship.

Vasseur is confident Ferrari will perform to a higher standard at Monza this weekend compared to recent races as he highlighted the difference minor gains can have.

“It’s a matter of details. The fact that we're in better shape on the short corner and so on will help us.

“And if you are able to do a step of one or two-tenths, it's a game changer. But we know also that everybody is improving.

“We know also that [at Zandvoort] we had still a big gap with Lando, quite far away. It means that we have a lot of work to do.

“I will never go to Monza, Baku or whatever with the feeling that it will be an easy one.”