Sebastian Vettel believes that the balance of his Ferrari is the primary issue causing the team’s lack of pace.
In what the German described as a “mixed bag” of an afternoon, he found himself almost a second off the pace compared to the Mercedes pair, and was a few tenths down on Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in the second practice session.
“The car feels okay, we need to improve a little bit all around and then we should be in a better tomorrow,” Vettel said.
“It’s quite obvious that Mercedes was very competitive in the morning and afternoon. I haven’t seen the long runs, but as I said, we need to work on ourselves and then see where we are.
“We need to better in sectors one, two and three – there is not one sector that stands out. As I said, I am not entirely happy with the balance, so naturally if the balance comes more together I think we can improve overnight and improve in sectors one, two and three. It’s not a surprise that Mercedes is good.”
However, despite finish Friday behind Red Bull’s pace, Vettel isn’t too worried and is confident Ferrari can make improvements overnight to be more competitive in tomorrow’s final practice session and qualifying.
“Today is Friday and I don’t value Friday’s all that much. Looking at ourselves, we need to improve here and there and tomorrow is a new day.”
Image via XPB Images
Josh Kruse
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