Sebastian Vettel is convinced Ferrari will challenge Mercedes this season but is not sure whether it will be in shape to do so at this weekend's opener in Melbourne.
Ferrari enters the new season with heightened expectations after an impressive winter of testing. Lewis Hamilton started the Australian Grand Prix weekend by proclaiming Ferrari has "something up its sleeve" but Vettel thinks Ferrari may have to wait to be a legitimate contender.
Asked if Ferrari had done enough to challenge Mercedes this season, he replied: "I think we have, the question is whether we are ready in time. But we are on a good track, we are making progress and did so last year, I think we did a step over winter. Whether it's big enough or not we need to wait for the first few races and see. Our target is to turn things around but going into this season I don't think it's a surprise when I say Mercedes is still the favourite. We try to become the favourites in the future."
Vettel, who has named his 2016 car Margherita, is impressed with the work that has gone into Ferrari's SFH-16 and the visible progress made over the winter.
"We've worked very hard. The project of this year's car started very early, so it's definitely a big step forward and big improvement overall. From the outside it's easy to see the main differences but especially on the inside I think we've done a very, very nice job. I think it allows us to be first of all quicker from the start and have more chance of improving through the year, so that's good news. Whether it's good news right from the start we don't know, we hope so.
"We know that our challenge is very, very big. We know that Mercedes in the last two year built a very solid platform, not just the engine but also the car has been very strong, particularly last season. I think it is quite difficult to start the season with a worse car than the year before so we know the bar is high, but we're pushing very hard."
Qualifying has been a weakness for Ferrari in recent years but Vettel is expecting to see an improvement on Saturdays this year.
"Usually qualifying pace is all about raw pace, so by trying to make our package quicker, make our car quicker, our engine stronger, we enhance our chances in qualifying to do well. I don't think there's a big secret behind it. Qualifying is all about the raw performance of the car and we know are a little bit behind -- we have been last year but try to be a lot closer. How close? I don't know, I don't have an answer -- yet."