Jolyon Palmer has identified a key area that he believes Ferrari need to focus on if they are to keep themselves in the title battle going forward, with the squad still mathematically the closest challengers to Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes.<\/p>\n
Antonelli<\/a> continues to lead the drivers\u2019 standings<\/a> by 50 points from Lewis Hamilton<\/a>, while the Silver Arrows hold an advantage of 72 points over the Scuderia in the Teams\u2019 Championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite Antonelli and Mercedes<\/a> losing some points during recent rounds prior to the summer break \u2013 the Italian having suffered a mechanically-related DNF in Barcelona, as well as dropping out of the top 10 at Silverstone following an issue with a front wheel shield \u2013 Palmer suggested during the latest episode of the official podcast, F1 Nation<\/a>, that Ferrari<\/a> have not made the most of these gains.<\/p>\n As such, the former F1 driver believes that the team need to cut out any further \u201csloppy\u201d errors in future.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is the unknown of what Kimi does when he gets towards a title fight,\u201d Palmer explained. \u201cFerrari have to just keep the pressure on and see what happens.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m a little bit disappointed in them in recent races, because I think they’ve just been given this chance with some reliability woes for Kimi. The wheel cover stuff in Silverstone was a really lucky strike for Ferrari.<\/p>\n \u201cThey [were] going to lose that race and they ended up coming through, taking a big dent out of out of Kimi’s lead [with a win for Charles Leclerc<\/a>].<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then they go and get all these penalties. So you’ve got a jump start for Lewis at Silverstone just because he moved his hand too quick \u2013 that’s pretty sloppy.<\/p>\n \u201cYou’ve got him unlatching the pit lane speed limiter a fraction early in Hungary \u2013 it’s hard to argue that’s not pretty sloppy.<\/p>\n \u201cYou’ve got the bigger one of all of them actually probably being the impeding penalty in Hungary \u2013 my word, that’s so sloppy from the race engineer at that point, and maybe a little bit from Lewis as well.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd those three penalties may cost them not just some points, obviously, but a little bit of momentum and a little bit of that pressure on Kimi, so they have to cut those out.\u201d<\/p>\n IndyCar race winner and analyst James Hinchcliffe agreed that Ferrari will need to be on their A-game in order to stay in the fight.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don’t know how Kimi is going to react when it really gets down to crunch time,\u201d Hinchcliffe said. \u201cIf that 50-point buffer does start coming down for some reason, does he start to panic?<\/p>\n \u201cDoes he start to drive in a protective manner and does that create opportunities? It is possible. But, I think Ferrari have to be flawless from here on out if they’ve got a realistic shot at it.\u201d<\/p>\n Ferrari\u2019s prospects in the championship fight was just one of the talking points on the Dutch Grand Prix preview, in which Palmer and Hinchcliffe joined F1 Nation host Tom Clarkson.<\/p>\n To hear the full episode, hit go on the audio player above or click here<\/a> to listen to the latest episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.<\/p>\n