Sebastian Vettel has labelled Thursday’s pair of practice sessions for the Monaco Grand Prix as “productive” but believes Mercedes will be back to “full force” on Saturday.
Title leader Vettel dominated proceedings in the second 90-minute session, setting the quickest ever lap of the circuit to wind up with a 1:12.720, almost half a second clear of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Mercedes, meanwhile, had a subdued session, with FP1 pacesetter Lewis Hamilton finishing in eighth, as Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top 10.
Vettel, though, reckons Ferrari's title rival will be back up to speed when Formula 1 returns to action on Saturday morning.
“We got out [of the garage] a bit late, which wasn’t scheduled, but nevertheless got answers we wanted, so, yeah, it was a productive day,” said Vettel of his session.
“I don’t know what happened to them [Mercedes] today, it was a bit weird, I’m pretty sure there is a reason and they will be back to full force on Saturday. It will be close, also with the Red Bulls.
“Around here it’s also important to have a good feel for the car, to get the lap together, so you cannot always go with the one time you set at the end of the day.
“But surely we managed to put it together and we’re quite happy.”
Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate, Kimi Räikkönen, finished third fastest.
Discussion about this post