Sebastian Vettel said Ferrari has addressed its car’s “Achilles’ Heel” after setting the pace on the first day of practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
After ending second practice six-tenths of a second ahead of the quickest Mercedes, Vettel described the difference in feeling from his SF90 compared to the first race weekend.“It’s less bumpy but that comes with the track,” said Vettel. “And more trust in the rear which was our, let’s say, Achilles’ Heel in Australia.”
However Vettel said the Ferrari still doesn’t feel as good as it did during pre-season testing.
“Not yet,” he said. “Barcelona was really good. Certainly better today. Obviously the track’s different, but I think we still need to find something.
“I’m not entirely happy with today, just don’t have the feeling yet that I want to have.”
Vettel had a quick spin at the exit of turn two during the second practice session, which he said was a result of a lack of grip on the track.
“It’s been a tricky day, very slippery in general. Difficult to extract always the best from the tyres. It’s better to have the spin today anyway than tomorrow or Sunday.”
He added the team can still unlock more performance from the car, which he believes they need to in order to compete with Mercedes.
“The feeling I had in the car for sure was better than it was in Australia but there’s still more in the car. Then I think if we unleash that we should be in good shape tomorrow and hopefully we can be a lot closer and put Mercedes under pressure.”
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Ryan B.
29th March 2019, 22:08
They just need to admit it, as that’s the first step.
They were suffering from tobacco withdrawals in Australia. Even their cars were coughing and sputtering down the straights.
Know they have a nice lung full of performance enhancing “non”-tobacco motivation.
The Mission Winnow (win now?) livery alone has to be worth 6 tenths.
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
30th March 2019, 3:18
Are you out of your mind? Stickers worth 6 tenths? Haha
It’s 6 tenths plus the seven tenths deficit they had in Melbourne so its 1.3 seconds worth of stickers.
PaulK (@paulk)
30th March 2019, 7:56
I’ve heard nicotine sticker were effective, but didn’t know it was that much.
papaya
30th March 2019, 5:15
Welcome back the King Ferrari on Mission Win Now! All hail to the King!
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
30th March 2019, 6:09
Merc still looked quicker I’d say .4.