Vettel predicts close fight for pole in Hockenheim

Sebastian Vettel believes it will be another knife-edge battle for pole position for the German Grand Prix this weekend.

“The car has been working well today and it’s been a normal Friday," he confirmed. "Now we have to find out how we’ve been working compared to the others."

The Ferrari driver finished the day fourth fastest in the afternoon free practice session. He was 0.225s off the new track record for the Hockenheimring set by Max Verstappen.

Vettel admitted that on today's showing, the Red Bull was very much in the mix for pole this weekend.

"I haven't seen much of the Red Bulls on the long run, but one lap it definitely is. It seems very close," he said. "Yeah, especially for one lap."

Both Mercedes drivers were faster than Vettel on Friday. Lewis Hamilton was just a quarter of a tenth of a second off Verstappen's best time.

"Today, we tried a little bit of everything. I think we got along quite well with the tyre selection that we used today.

"I wasn't entirely happy with the only lap I had on the ultrasoft," he admitted. "But I think the car was fine and I think we can still gain a bit.

• Verstappen finishes Friday fastest ahead of Mercedes and Ferrari

"I think we are still missing a little bit in terms of one-lap performance," he admitted. "But I think we can improve.

"It will be crucial to have a solid day tomorrow and a good result. It always helps and that is what we will try to do."

Vettel's team mate Kimi Raikkonen was a further tenth back, but was still optimistic about what Ferrari could achieve this weekend.

“Friday is the only day that we can use as a test, trying a lot of things and different solutions," he explained.

"It was a very normal day and later this evening we‘ll analyse what we have learned today and put things together for qualifying.

"On Sunday if the weather stays warm like it was today, for sure it will be challenging for the tyres," he pointed out.

"It’s going to be more similar to Austria, with a limit on the tyres, and whoever makes the best job in managing them is going to have some advantage.

"So far we have been reasonably strong in most places. We’ll see how it goes here - it looks pretty close."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter