Vettel: “We have our work cut out for us”

Sebastian Vettel had however shown himself the fastest in the morning during the first free session but he fell back to 5th place in the afternoon, more than half a second from the reference established by the Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton. 

Both Ferrari also emerge behind the second Silver Arrow of Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull de Max Verstappen et Daniel Ricciardo. While his hopes of a 5th world crown have diminished over the last weekends of competition, Vettel recognizes that Ferrari is not approaching the Russian weekend in the best way. 

« We seem to be quite far from the others, he confided in the Sochi paddock on Friday evening. We were struggling with pace over one lap but also with long stints. The degradation of our tires seems more rapid and significant than our rivals. 

It was not an ideal day in terms of feeling in the car. We encountered traffic in FP2 but we were also in difficulty with the track cleared. We clearly have our work cut out for us. ». 

Since the addition of the Russian Grand Prix to the calendar in 2014, Mercedes has been undefeated on the shores of the Black Sea. Vettel is 40 points behind Hamilton at the start of the 16th round of the season.