Sebastian Vettel admits Ferrari "should be better" than the 0.7s they were behind Mercedes in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

All pre-season predictions went out the window as the Scuderia simply had no response to the Silver Arrows performance on Saturday with a final result of third almost a relief.

"Relatively surprised, I think everybody is, probably even themselves [Mercedes]," Vettel said of the gap.

"I think yesterday we didn’t have a good day, today felt better, but in terms of gap and pace, it was very similar.

"For sure there’s homework to be done, we should be better than this, so looking forward to tomorrow."

Also Read:

• Ferrari's lack of pace a 'real shock' to Hamilton
• Charles Leclerc: P3 was possible without errors in Q3

The situation is remarkably similar to last year when Lewis Hamilton also romped off to pole position by a large margin, but it won't be lost that the past two years, Vettel has emerged the victor on Sunday.

"I don’t know how many laps, 58 laps, we have some time to get a proper read on where we are, but certainly Mercedes is the clear favourite," the German continued.

"To have such a big gap in qualifying and all the sessions, we’ve got to live with it today, but as I said, tomorrow is a new day. We’ve done it before around here."

Asked if there was any explanation for the sudden lack of pace, Seb did wonder if the very different conditions in Australia were playing a role.

“We have probably something like 10-15 degrees more ambient [temperature], a hotter track, and different circuit, so overall different conditions,” he said.

“But the car felt really good in testing and probably around here this weekend so far it didn’t feel as good yet.

"There’s not an awful lot of time to try different things. Obviously, you have to get on with it, and the sessions come fast. Especially in qualifying, you can’t really change much.

"There’s still for us a bit of margin, but certainly, the gap is there today and was a surprise. We didn’t expect it coming here, but now it is that way and as I said, we focus on tomorrow and don’t worry about the gap now."