Sebastian Vettel was unconvinced by Ferrari’s strong form during the first day of free practice for the British Grand Prix and forecast that Mercedes will improve and pull clear in qualifying.
The four-time world champion and his Ferrari teammate Finn Kimi Raikkonen were third and second respectively, splitting the two Mercedes of pace-setter German Nico Rosberg and defending two-time champion Briton Lewis Hamilton who was fourth.
"I don't know what happened to them (Mercedes)," said Vettel. "I think you saw the pace in general of them in the long run and this morning so they will be quick no matter what. Anything else will be a surprise, but if we can repeat our form tomorrow, that will be good news for us."
"We didn't have any issues with the car and we more or less got through everything that we wanted to do. I'm not entirely happy yet with how the car feels, but I think for tomorrow we can make a step forward.
"I think we can improve. We tried a couple of things and now we have to find out what was good or what was bad and put all the good things in the car for tomorrow.
"We didn't have anything going wrong with the car. This track is a lot about finding the rhythm, so it was good to do a couple of laps."
Vettel is the only driver so far this year to have broken the Silver Arrows stranglehold on the top step of the podium this year, when he powered to victory in Malaysia. It was also his first win as a Ferrari driver.
Currently the quadruple F1 world champion lies third in the championship, trailing Hamilton by 49 points at the halfway point of the season.
Latest News
Loading
