Sebastian Vettel says work undertaken to make him feel more comfortable with the front end of Ferrari’s SF71-H was key in his pole-winning run at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Vettel qualified only third in Australia, as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton held a comfortable margin, and accepted his victory was fortuitous, as he explained his personal shortcomings with Ferrari’s 2018 challenger.
Vettel, though, struck back in the floodlit session at Sakhir to record pole position in a Ferrari 1-2, and will start his 200th Formula 1 race from the front of the field.
“I think it’s surprising for us to be, after Australia, that competitive,” Vettel said.
“So, obviously, we, I think, have a good base. The car is working; in Australia, I think we struggled with the feel for the car.
“We mostly tried to work on the set-up, understanding the car so we tried different things obviously.
“Across the weekend, you don’t have that much time, in Australia it’s a tricky track, it’s improving a lot throughout the weekend, it’s very bumpy so it’s difficult to change too much in drawing conclusions.
“I think after the weekend, after the race distance, especially when you have so many laps, I think we had a very good understanding and feel.
“We’ve been talking about it and looking into it and I think overall I’ve been happier this weekend with how the car has been responding, how the front end was responding.
“I think you also see it in the results but I think the good news is that we are a lot closer in all the conditions, if you look at all the sessions across with everyone so I think that’s the only difference.
“For the rest it’s the same car as in Australia.”
