Sebastian Vettel believes Ferrari can still make progress with their car after a close Friday practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The German was in the top three and within a tenth of the best time posted in both sessions at Interlagos which is typically a good sign based on the Scuderia’s usual strategy of turning down the engine.
Even so, Vettel admits set-up still wasn’t ideal and another concern is lingering heading into the rest of the weekend.
“The car has been OK but not good yet, so there is still some work to do,” he said.
“I think, especially come Sunday when it supposed to be hotter, it could be a tricky one for tyres. It was already tricky for us today.
“We are in the ballpark but we can still launch forward from where we are.”
In the morning, Ferrari once again tried their new floor upgrade which features small fins and for the third consecutive race, the aero runs didn’t give the expected results.
“The last races to us were very useful because we understood a lot about our car, a lot of the things that went wrong,” Seb claimed with a broader upgrade since Singapore also causing issues.
“We’re still trying to get a better picture and understand a bit more what’s going on.”
Perhaps the biggest question after practice, however, was what was that led to this rather unexpected radio message regarding let’s say chassis length.
“There’s something loose between my legs… apart from the obvious,” he said. “Something flying around my feet. I’d be proud if it was what you think it is, but it’s not!”
His explanation: “I think the biggest worry we had today was a little screw that came loose and was somewhere between my feet. We found it in the end!
“I said it [the message], and once I said it I thought ‘no, don’t get it wrong!’ so I had to say it again. It was funny.
“But we found it in the end, it was a little screw.”
All that bragging for a little screw, better luck next time Seb…