Set-up has an influence, but generally speaking, Ferrari have been quicker on the straights. So using your logic, that's where Merc's weakness has been relative to Ferrari. Mercedes make up on Ferrari through corners, and Ferrari through the straights. The video streamable sort of demonstrates this
https://streamable.com/e4d8r
Imo, the Ferrari car & Merc car have been more or less evenly matched. Ferrari was the quicker car in China, Baku, Monaco, Canada, Italy, Hungary, Belgium Germany & Mexico. Merc the quicker car in Australia, Spain, France, Austria, GB, Singapore, Russia, Japan & Abh Dhabi.
Bahrain, Brazil & USA too close to call/debatable
And let's not forget Vettel had superior reliability than all the front runners too, including Hamilton.
I struggle to see where the SF71H was an "underdog"..Ferrari lost performance for a 3 race period (Singapore, Russia, Japan). But other than this, overall, it was a match for the W09.
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