F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Vettel's confidence in Ferrari SF90 'not there yet'

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."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

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

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Marko: ‘No chance at all’ for Red Bull in Las Vegas

Helmut Marko believes that Red Bull and Max Verstappen are unlikely to challenge for victory…

2 hours ago

GM revives bid to join F1 with accelerated talks for 2026 entry

Automotive giant General Motors is reportedly back in the game as a potential entrant in…

4 hours ago

Las Vegas GP: Thursday's action in pictures

The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…

5 hours ago

Williams' headaches persist into Vegas practice

Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…

6 hours ago

Ferrari's Sainz 'not satisfied with where we are' in Vegas

It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…

7 hours ago

Norris labels McLaren long-run pace ‘shocking’ in chilly Vegas

Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…

8 hours ago