Sebastian Vettel believes Ferrari will be able to display stronger pace in race trim at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, having lagged firmly behind Mercedes during qualifying.
Mercedes controlled all three segments of qualifying at the Yas Marina Circuit as Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton contested pole, leaving Vettel adrift of the pair in third place, half a second slower.
Vettel, though, remains upbeat over Ferrari’s race pace, and is hopeful of emerging in contention for overall honours.
“I think we were missing some speed today in qualifying,” said Vettel. “I think tomorrow we can be closer to our competitors, so we’ll see.
“Especially in Q3, in sector two, they were very fast, while in the first and third sector we were more or less on the pace.
“Hopefully tomorrow it can be different: I think during the race we should have a better pace.
“Winning is always possible, even though here it’s difficult to overtake if your speed is not different to the other cars.
“So, let’s see what this race can bring and hopefully we can put pressure on our rivals.”
Kimi Räikkönen, meanwhile, will start from fifth position, having slipped behind Daniel Ricciardo during the final Q3 runs.
“It was not an easy qualifying and fifth position is far from ideal,” said Räikkönen.
“The car felt good all day, I had good feelings. In Q1 we did few laps and it was very easy, but then it got tricky with the tyres.
“For whatever reason, I struggled to make them work and trust them on a flying lap. In some runs, they were ok, then in another one it was more difficult. It was a bit of a guessing game.”
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