Sebastian Vettel says his second practice session in Bahrain was “horrible” on account of Ferrari making overly aggressive set-up changes.
Vettel, in his penultimate event as a Ferrari driver, spun twice during the second session, rotating his SF1000 through Turn 2, before sliding wide exiting Turn 5 and spearing across the circuit.
It left Vettel without a representative timed effort on Soft tyres and he finished the session down in 16th position.
“We’ve had a mixed day, the first session was okay, the second session was horrible,” he said.
“We tried something with the car and I think it was very aggressive and probably not what we needed.
“We were happy and we thought it would work but I don’t think it did so we will see for tomorrow.”
Charles Leclerc did not set a timed effort after suffering a driveshaft failure on his second lap.
“We were actually better than expected I have to say, and FP2 was also good until the failure on my side,” said Leclerc. “So hopefully it will be a good day tomorrow.”
Vettel also expressed encouragement that Ferrari can lift its fortunes.
“Charles wasn’t out running so we didn’t get the answer on the other side either [of the garage],” he said.
“I think Q1 should be fine to make it through to Q2, and then I think Q3 could be possible – maybe it’s a little bit better than last week – but I reckon it will be very tight.
“It’s a short lap, the gaps between the cars are nothing. The midfield has always been tight this year so it will be even tighter.”
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