Ferrari will ‘put a lot of pressure’ on Mercedes - Vettel

Sebastian Vettel has warned Ferrari will “put a lot of pressure” on Mercedes in 2016 having come close to winning the Australian Grand Prix.

A strong start saw Vettel and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen running one-two in the opening stages of Sunday’s race in Melbourne, with the pair looking comfortable at the front of the field. A poor strategy decision during a red flag period saw Vettel drop to third after an extra pit stop and he was unable to overtake Lewis Hamilton late on, and the four-time world champion says Ferrari is not satisfied with third place behind the two Mercedes’ having shown the pace to challenge for the title this season.

“Of course we expect more this year,” Vettel said. “Last year was a bit unknown. I think we were happy to be on the podium after the season that Ferrari had in 2014 and I had in 2014. This year we obviously come with more expectations.

Naturally, when you finish second in the Constructors you want to challenge for first. I think we managed to close the gap more than anyone else so there are plenty of positives. At home in Maranello there has been a lot of work going into this car and I think this is the right car that should allow us to put a lot of pressure on these guys.

“We know that the benchmark is high but as I said, we are on the right track, things are coming together … all in all, we are a lot closer so plenty of positives.”

And Vettel says the performance of Ferrari should not be underestimated even if Mercedes again secured a one-two.

“I think we were a lot closer. Last year this was one of our worst tracks so there’s plenty of positives. Surely we expected to be a bit stronger in qualifying, it wasn’t the case but I think we had a bit of a rough session.”

Scene at the Australian Grand Prix

Australian Grand Prix - Quotes of the weekend

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