Sebastian Vettel believes Ferrari could be even closer to Mercedes this weekend, but insists the world champions are still the favourites for victory.
Vettel had a chance to win the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, but a decision not to switch to medium tyres during an in-race red flag saw him shuffled down the order in the second half of the race. Nevertheless, the pace Ferrari showed in Australia this year and Bahrain last year gives Vettel reason to believe his team could be even more competitive this weekend.
"Last year we saw that Australia wasn't our strongest race and I think this year we were more competitive," he said. "That's natural because I think we are in better shape this year than we were last year, so for this race last year we were in quite good shape and you could say that we will be even a bit closer again. But then again, every year is different and we have different tyres this year and the weather is a bit different -- at least now.
"It's difficult to predict, but we should be a bit more competitive, but how competitive we will see. The favourite is not us unfortunately, but we are working very hard to change that. After the performance we saw in Australia in both qualifying and the race, the favourites are Mercedes."
One notable difference between Ferrari and Mercedes this year is the amount of medium-compound tyres they have allocated to their drivers. The Mercedes drivers have opted for just one set of mediums, which must be saved for the race, while Ferrari's drivers have three sets of mediums at the cost of two fewer sets of softs. However, by the time the tyres have been used in the practice sessions, Vettel doubts there will be much difference between the tyre allocations of the two teams.
"We will see, on paper it looks more than it is because by the time you get to Sunday you are left with a lot less tyres. We are confident with the choice we have made and we know our thinking behind it. I don't know what the others were thinking, but I think we will find out."