Vettel hopes straights offer Ferrari opportunities

  • Published on 11 May 2019 18:17
  • comments 1
  • By: Fergal Walsh

Sebastian Vettel is hoping that Ferrari straight-line speed advantage over Mercedes will allow it to put pressure on the Silver Arrows during the Spanish Grand Prix.

Mercedes swept Ferrari aside in qualifying, with Vettel's fastest lap eight-tenths down on Valtteri Bottas, who claimed his third consecutive pole position. 

After Friday running, it was clear that Ferrari was missing out in the third sector, but Vettel says that it is not just the final sequence of corners where the Scuderia outfit is losing time to their rivals.

"We're slower in the corners, not just the last sector but the other sectors," he said. "We're faster on the straights by quite a chunk, maybe that will help us tomorrow to put pressure on early on, we'll see.

"It's a long race, and we seem to lack a little bit of overall grip to match their performance but we'll try everything we can tomorrow."

Vettel admits surprise at sizeable gap to Mercedes

Vettel admitted that the gap on the timesheets surprised him, as Ferrari goes in search of its first win since the US Grand Prix last year.

"Yeah it did [surprise him]," Vettel said of the gap to Mercedes. "We would like to be closer but we're not. We tried a lot of things. We've been brave, exploring different directions.

"The parts that we brought, they seem to work and they're a step forward, but we're still behind so still a lot of work ahead of us.

"The favourites are Mercedes, they are a lot faster than us. We will see what we can do in the race. Otherwise, we'll just stop here and have a siesta tomorrow," Vettel joked.

"But our job is not to have a siesta so that other people can enjoy siestas so we'll fight as hard as we can and hopefully we can squeeze out more than we expect.

"I would say we'll race as hard as we can and see what we can get. We're not the favourites but we'll try to give them a very hard time."

Replies (1)

Login to reply
  • f1ski

    Posts: 726

    sounds like desperation see a dnf

    • + 0
    • May 11 2019 - 21:38

BE Grand Prix of Belgium

Local time 

BEGrand Prix of Belgium

Local time 

World Championship standings 2024

Show full world champion standings

Test calendar

See full test schedule

Related news

Give your opinion!

Will Bottas challenge Hamilton for the world championship in 2020?

Formula 1 Calendar - 2024

Date
Grand Prix
Circuit
-
Bahrain
29 - Mar 2
Bahrain
7 - Mar 9
Saudi Arabia
22 - Mar 24
Australia
5 - Apr 7
Japan
19 - Apr 21
China
3 - May 5
United States of America
17 - May 19
Italy
24 - May 26
Monaco
7 - Jun 9
Canada
21 - Jun 23
Spain
28 - Jun 30
Austria
5 - Jul 7
United Kingdom
19 - Jul 21
Hungary
26 - Jul 28
Belgium
23 - Aug 25
Netherlands
30 - Sep 1
Italy
13 - Sep 15
Azerbaijan
20 - Sep 22
Singapore
18 - Oct 20
United States of America
25 - Oct 27
Mexico
1 - Nov 3
Brazil
22 - Nov 24
United States of America
29 - Dec 1
Qatar
6 - Dec 8
United Arab Emirates
See full schedule

Formula 1 Calendar - 2024

Date
Grand Prix & Circuit
29 - Mar 2
7 - Mar 9
Saudi Arabia Jeddah Street Circuit
22 - Mar 24
Australia Albert Park
5 - Apr 7
19 - Apr 21
3 - May 5
United States of America Miami International Autodrome
17 - May 19
24 - May 26
Monaco Monte Carlo
7 - Jun 9
21 - Jun 23
28 - Jun 30
Austria Red Bull Ring
5 - Jul 7
United Kingdom Silverstone
19 - Jul 21
Hungary Hungaroring
26 - Jul 28
23 - Aug 25
Netherlands Circuit Zandvoort
30 - Sep 1
Italy Monza
13 - Sep 15
Azerbaijan Baku City Circuit
20 - Sep 22
18 - Oct 20
United States of America Circuit of the Americas
25 - Oct 27
1 - Nov 3
Brazil Interlagos
22 - Nov 24
United States of America Las Vegas Street Circuit
29 - Dec 1
6 - Dec 8
United Arab Emirates Yas Marina Circuit
See full schedule

Driver profile

  • Team Aston Martin
  • Points 1,480
  • Podiums 56
  • Grand Prix 161
  • Country DE
  • Date of b. Jul 3 1987 (37)
  • Place of b. Heppenheim, DE
  • Weight 62 kg
  • Length 1.75 m
Show full profile

Team profile

Show full profile
show sidebar