After vindicating Ferrari's pre-season hype with a spot on the front row of the Australian Grand Prix pole, Sebastian Vettel admitted pole position was just out of reach.
Vettel split Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in an entertaining fight between the two teams, confirming speculation Ferrari has at the very least significantly narrowed the gap to the world champions over the winter. The eventual margin between first and second was 0.2s and, though Vettel thinks beating Hamilton was unlikely,
When asked if P2 proved a step forward from Ferrari, Vettel replied: "Definitely, I think we have a good car. I think we are working well as a team. Things are improving. Obviously it's nice to see that things are working, the car is working. I had a mixed day yesterday, but the confidence in the car was there from testing and I think we showed that again today.
"In the end I was not entirely happy with my lap, I was pretty happy with the end, maybe not so much with the opening of the lap where we lost a bit too much, but I think Lewis did a very good lap so I don't think... I would have loved to... but I don't think pole was up for grabs."
The result leaves Vettel alongside a Mercedes which had well-documented troubles off the line throughout 2016. Though Hamilton and Mercedes had good long run pace during Friday practice Vettel thinks Ferrari is in a great position -- something he says vindicates the work done in the last 12 months.
"Tomorrow I think we can do something in the race. The car feels good, we've improved it so the pace should be much better than it was yesterday when we had some practice. Looking forward to it, as I said, it's been a big winter for us, lots of change we've gone through as a team in the last 12 months, and to the better. I think the team is getting stronger.
"Obviously everyone is pushing very hard and it's not so easy to come here with a long journey to get to Australia, but I think people are fired up and we are motivated for tomorrow. I think it's the first good opportunity."