Sebastian Vettel believes Mercedes will struggle to beat his Ferrari at the Bahrain Grand Prix after he managed to split Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in qualifying to line up second on the grid.
After showing impressive long-run pace throughout Friday practice, Ferrari managed to challenge Mercedes over one-lap in qualifying on Saturday evening. Vettel was still 0.4s off Lewis Hamilton on pole but will start ahead of Nico Rosberg and is hoping to fight for victory.
When asked if Sunday's race can be similar to the Malaysian Grand Prix he won in March, Vettel said: "I think Lewis said earlier that we will be difficult to beat and I think he's right .I'm very happy with second today. It was a tough session. At the beginning I didn't really find the rhythm that I seemed to have in practice but then towards the end more and more it was getting better, I was feeling happier in the car and I felt more comfortable to push.
"For now I'm very happy with the front row and hopefully tomorrow we can have a good start and then a good race from there. In the race we are maybe a bit closer so we will see what happens."
Vettel said Ferrari has not found a magic bullet to aid the performance of the car this weekend, but is simply working on getting the most from its existing package. "We are progressing as a team. For this race we didn't bring any updates in particular, so it's really a circuit that is maybe a little better for us. It's also about continuously working with the car, getting on top of what to do with the car, learning and how the changes are reacting on track.
"That's the area where we are making most progress at the minute. We are trying to push in all areas, but for now we can be very happy with where we are. Today was the first time we were able to split them through dry conditions in qualifying, so I'm very happy."