Wolff states that Ferrari's victories were a result of Mercedes' shortcomings.

      "We have dropped those points, and the others are gaining on us."

      Toto Wolff has downplayed Ferrari's two wins this season, claiming that Mercedes missed out on both due to circumstances and reliability issues rather than sheer performance. Ferrari has narrowed Mercedes' constructors' championship lead to 72 points after victories in Barcelona and Silverstone, while McLaren has also made progress with recent upgrades. "Ferrari's two victories were due to our own losses," Wolff stated, as reported by Eurosport Italia. "We had bad luck in Barcelona with the Safety Car and faced Kimi's troubles at Silverstone. We started the season very strong. As a team and as a company, the integration of the power unit and the chassis helped us achieve clearly dominant outcomes. However, we faced major reliability issues—we had three or four retirements. We likely lost 70 to 80 points due to missed finishes compared to Ferrari. Currently, we have a 72-point lead, but if we were to add another 70, our advantage would be much larger. Nonetheless, we have lost those points, and the others are closing in." Wolff also conceded that Mercedes has been outdeveloped in recent races. "When a competitor brings updates, they take a step forward," he noted. "We observed Ferrari and McLaren introduce developments while we did not, and suddenly we found ourselves in a tough battle." Meanwhile, Ferrari's technical director Loic Serra, who came from Mercedes, dismissed claims that the enhanced SF-26 should be considered his car. "I don’t view this car as 'mine,'" he told Italy's Autosprint. "It is the result of a great team's efforts, composed of many professionals. It is an evolving project, subject to ongoing development." Serra indicated that a final assessment of Ferrari will have to wait until the season concludes. "A rating for this Ferrari? We can only provide that at the end of the season." "In F1, those who don't concentrate on tomorrow are bound to fail. The focus on development progression is what matters." "We can never be fully satisfied. We must continually aim to go further and push ourselves."