Sebastian Vettel admits he currently isn't driving at his best, conceding that he's still struggling to come to grips with the "unnatural" behavior of Ferrari's SF90.
The Scuderia's 2019 contender exited winter testing as the outright favorite at the start of the season but the Italian outfit has yet to confirm its pre-season form while Vettel himself has often been outpaced by new recruit Charles Leclerc.
Circumstances have put the German ahead of his team mate in the championship but Vettel insists he needs to step up his performance, as does his team, to challenge his Mercedes counter-parts.
"We need stronger pace, simple as that," said the four-time world champion.
"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, who put Ferrari's SF90 on pole in Bahrain but was robbed of a sure win at Sakhir by an engine issues, appears to be less impacted by his mount's balance issues, especially in qualifying.
But Vettel puts the difference in raw pace between himself and his team mate on his more cautious approach.
"When it's not there [the performance], then your judgement is normally right, to not go there because you end up losing the car," said Vettel.
"I seem to be more sensitive at the first races than at the test. The test was really good but that's a long time ago now.
"We need to look forward and improve the way we handle things, the way we work, to just get faster."
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