Sebastian Vettel has suggested Ferrari might be struggling to match their rivals for pace after Friday practice at the Abu Dhabi GP.
The German was only a third of a second off the pace at Yas Marina but that was enough to be only sixth fastest, a tenth behind his own teammate Kimi Raikkonen in fifth.
Typically, that could be blamed on the Scuderia running lower engine modes, but Vettel conceded the day hadn’t gone too smoothly.
“I think it has been okay. Obviously, we are not yet quick enough but hopefully tomorrow we will be,” he said.
“We tried everything we could, it [the engine] was not necessarily turned down today.
“I think [the race] will be decided on the tyres, and obviously Red Bull has been strong in the last couple of races when it comes to tyres.”
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Worryingly then for the 31-year-old, he complained of his Hypersoft tyres being “finished” after just 15 laps of what will be a 55-lap race on Sunday.
A potential reason for optimism though comes from Ferrari’s usual ability to find pace on a Saturday.
“Yeah, as I said, not entirely happy yet but in the evening it was better,” Vettel stated.
“Let’s see, on one lap I think we still have some margin but it is going to be tough, it is going to be tight.”
