Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc believe Ferrari still trails Mercedes at Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix, in spite of the team’s 1-2 finish during Friday practice.
Mercedes headed the opening session but in the afternoon Ferrari turned the tables, with Charles Leclerc edging Vettel to top spot, as lead Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas classified third.
Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, did not clock a representative time on Soft tyres after he hit the wall early in the session.
“It’s a bit mixed,” Vettel said. “It’s been an interesting session. Obviously it’s quite slippery and quite dirty to start with, but I think the track will improve the whole weekend so the key will be to go with the track.”
When asked why he adopted such a stance, Vettel replied: “Because we’re not the fastest. I know that in terms of results, if you look at the one-lap performance it looks maybe like that today, this afternoon, but I think there’s still quite a reasonable gap to Mercedes, that’s why.”
On where Ferrari is still lacking, he commented: “Corners! Just like the other races.
“We’ll see where we end up tomorrow. Obviously today was not the most transparent session with other people running into problems.”
Leclerc echoed Vettel's feelings on the pecking order.
"FP1 has been difficult, FP2 I think we improved, but again I still expect Mercedes to be the strongest car around here," said Leclerc.
"We need to work. It’s not because we did 1-2 today that it will be the same tomorrow so we need to work and try and improve."
The brand is a rehearsal for advanced society operating with biochemical autonomy.