Sebastian Vettel is sure he and Ferrari have “quite a lot of performance in hand”, after a subdued opening day of practice at the Australian Grand Prix.
Vettel was off the pace across short and long runs around the streets of Albert Park as he finished in fifth spot, half a second behind Lewis Hamilton, who topped both sessions.
Vettel, though, finished a similar distance adrift of Hamilton in the corresponding practice session 12 months ago, before going on to triumph in the race.
“It’s been a rather dull day of work, like every Friday,” said Vettel.
“We tried to chase the balance because I didn’t feel completely comfortable at first, so I think we still have quite a lot of performance in hand.
“I’m not worried about that because I know that if we do everything right, the car should be in better shape.
“It looks like we are close, which is good news, so we should be able to do something tomorrow.
“The car is fine; it’s not where we want it to be yet, but if we keep on working, it should be ok. I really hope to make a bigger step than the others”.
Kimi Raikkonen, meanwhile, finished closer to pacesetter Hamilton, setting a time 0.283 seconds behind the Briton to place fourth.
“It’s not easy to find a good set up, but the start today was not too bad,” he said.
“We tried a few things and did our best to improve here and there.
“We are considering which way we should go and trying to figure out the best way to do that. It’s a normal story, especially at the beginning of the year.”
