Vettel excited by Ferrari work behind the scenes

Sebastian Vettel says he is confident in Ferrari's future after describing its 2015 season so far as "phenomenal".

The four-time world champion moved to Ferrari from Red Bull last year and has one victory to his name so far this season, with Mercedes winning the other eight rounds. While unable to challenge for wins on many other occasions, Vettel says the work taking place behind the scenes is very encouraging.

Asked for his assessment of Ferrari's season so far, Vettel replied: “Phenomenal.

"I think we had a fantastic start, the first race being on the podium for me was fantastic, my first race with Ferrari. Come the second race, already the first win, so it was a phenomenal start. But also after that I think we were able to be very consistent, we had a lot of podium finishes … we knew starting the season there was one team that is very, very difficult to beat.

"We have managed on occasions, as I said in Malaysia, qualifying in Bahrain, in the race as well Kimi [Raikkonen] was splitting them, so overall it has been very, very positive. Especially seeing what is starting to shape up in the background, which obviously you don’t see here and you don’t see immediately on the car, is very promising. I think the project is ongoing and I’m quite confident for the future.”

And Vettel says it is "a miracle" how much progress Ferrari has made since the end of 2014.

"Living through the day, the Sunday in Malaysia was great and I definitely want to do that many, many times again. It’s not so easy, as I said, and in some regards you have to be a bit patient. I think it’s already in a way a miracle what we have achieved so far but we are not satisfied and also we are not here to match somebody else or be as quick as somebody else, we want to be the quickest.

"That’s ambitious but it’s clear in everybody’s head where we want to go. Equally, as I said, we need to be patient. If I could choose one more race it would be Monza but you can’t just pick what you like and it’s going to happen. It’s tough competition, we know that and we’ve said that. That’s what makes winning in the end so special.”

Click here for Eric Silbermann's Hungarian Grumpy Preview

Click here for Thursday's gallery from the Hungarian Grand Prix

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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