Vettel thinks Mercedes were holding back on pace

Sebastian Vettel feels that Mercedes didn't show their true hand during Friday practice, and expects them to be much stronger come qualifying tomorrow. Mercedes were a long way off the pace of Ferrari in the second practice session, with Valtteri Bottas' time almost seven-tenths of a second slower than Vettel in P1.

There have been suggestions that Mercedes aren't quite able to tune the softest compounds into an optimum working range, which was the reason why they looked so far behind on Friday. 

However, Vettel says he thinks they will come roaring to life tomorrow on a track that he believes suits the Brackley based team with its long straights.

"I think they will be fine; it's a circuit that suits them, so they will be strong tomorrow," he said. "Last year people expected Williams to be fastest after the Friday, if I remember right. It obviously turned out that Mercedes was the fastest. That's how sometimes you can be misled.

"I think there are a lot of things that we can play with in the car - fuel loads, engines, engine modes. This track, especially, there are a lot of things that you can show or not show. I think the most important step is we talk about ourselves, our balance, and as I said I was able to improve, so I'm reasonably happy."

Fergal Walsh