Vettel: SF90 not allowing me to 'drive at my best'

Sebastian Vettel says he is not driving at his best at the moment as he is being held back by the SF90.

Vettel admits that the car is not allowing him to extract its potential, describing the situation as 'unnatural'.

Ferrari has endured a tough start to the 2019 season, watching rivals Mercedes take four consecutive one-two finishes, with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton taking two wins each.

Vettel has called on the Maranello squad to make improvements so that it can take the fight to Mercedes in the battle for the world championship.

"We need stronger pace, simple as that," said Vettel. "We need to be faster. It seems that for us it's more of a conscious effort to get the car in the right window, whereas maybe for them it seems to click a little bit easier.

"Especially a place like [Baku], you need the confidence in the car. I'm not there yet. I can feel that I'm not driving at my best because simply the car does not answer or does not respond the way I like.

"And then I think it's unnatural. I think everybody's been there."

Leclerc happier with the SF90

Vettel's teammate Charles Leclerc affirmed that Ferrari needs to make improvements, but says that he is not necessarily unhappy with the SF90.

"At the moment I'm not so unhappy with the car," Leclerc told Autosport. "We maybe need to work a little bit on our race. I think in qualifying the car felt amazing, in the race I have a little bit more balance problems.

"But these are small issues and I'm pretty sure if we work on it we'll get over it."