Championship leader Sebastian Vettel has labelled Mercedes as “the favourite” at the Red Bull Ring, following the conclusion of Friday’s practice sessions.
Vettel’s title rival Lewis Hamilton led the way during both 90-minute sessions, winding up 0.147s faster than the German during the afternoon running.
Vettel believes Ferrari will be closer over one-lap than at the previous event in Azerbaijan, where the team trailed Hamilton by over a second, but acknowledged the speed of the W08s.
“Baku I think was a one-off in many ways; the qualifying wasn’t good, positioning wasn’t too bad, the gap was too big, we didn’t feel as comfortable as we should have,” said Vettel.
“For here I haven’t seen much yet but it looks close, it’s a short track so you’d imagine it would be close, we’ll see.
“I think Mercedes is the favourite, they seemed very quick no matter when they went out today so we’ll see tomorrow.”
Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen finished only sixth fastest, 0.661s behind pacesetter Hamilton, but played down his deficit.
“I didn’t do [a] very good one lap so obviously [there’s] some work to be done for tomorrow but it’s a Friday so it’s okay,” he commented.
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