Sebastian Vettel has played down his chances at the Canadian Grand Prix after a difficult Friday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
The German completed just 43 laps in total across the two sessions and missed out a large chunk of the afternoon due to a prolonged setup change which had also encompassed the lunch break.
Despite that, his pace remained poor in fifth place, behind Lewis Hamilton who was using one step harder tyres, and almost eight-tenths off the leader Max Verstappen.
“It was a bit different, it was a bit mixed today so I’m not entirely happy with the feel inside the car yet,” he admitted. “Some things that we tried and some things that I think we need to work on.
“Also, myself, I didn’t get the rhythm yet so missing a little bit of the laps but overall we tried to go through the programme as good as we could.”
At a race weekend where Ferrari is expected to have a possible edge over Mercedes thanks to a new upgraded engine, it is imperative for Vettel to capitalise on any weakness his main championship rival has.
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However, for now at least, he thinks it will be his teammate that leads the charge for the Scuderia as Kimi Raikkonen sat second just a tenth off the pace.
“Today we’re not the favourites,” the 30-year-old said. “Kimi I think was happier on one lap so probably he’s one of the favourites, I’m not, but we’ll see tomorrow.
“I think we need a little bit of time to understand the full picture but as I said I’m not yet happy with the car. If that comes together I think we can do quite a big jump and then hopefully the engine and putting it all together will help us to be there tomorrow.”
Ferrari and Vettel are known for hanging back a little on Friday before unleashing their full potential when it matters most in qualifying.
