Sebastian Vettel says he decided not to take any risk when he suddenly lost drive in FP2 for the Bahrain Grand Prix, as reliability remains a concern for Ferrari.

The German ground to a halt in the closing stages of the night session and immediately inspected the back of his stranded SF16-H looking for the origin of the problem. Vettel then confirmed to his team that the issue appears to come from a loose wheel nut on the rear left.

With team-mate Kimi Raikkonen suffering a turbo failure in Australia and the threat of taking an engine grid penalty potentially looming, the four-time world champion explained did not want to take any chance.

“We don’t know 100% [what the problem was],” Vettel said. “I felt out of turn four that I lost drive so I decided to stop. Obviously we don’t want to risk or damage the car, which is a shame because I wanted to do a couple of more laps but that is what it is.

“I think it is normal when you feel something is wrong. You try not to take risk, it is incredible important to do the mileage and get the information on Friday but it is also important to make sure the car is in a good condition for the whole weekend and whole season.

“Nowadays it is important to make sure you don’t risk anything, the engine, the car as much as possible.”

Having only set the 11th fastest time in FP1, Vettel looked much closer to the Mercedes on the soft compound early in the second session. However, a scruffy flying lap on the supersoft tyre meant the 28-year-old could not improve his FP2 mark and finished only sixth and more than 1.6s off Nico Rosberg’s table-topping time.

“I think if you want to qualify as high as possible you have to use the super-soft,” Vettel added. “I don’t think that is a secret. A lot of people did their homework today, I haven’t done everything I could because we stopped. Kimi [Raikkonen] did a lot of laps, so this is still a reasonable day

“I think we could be a bit closer here. It is difficult to say, I don’t know what Mercedes did today. They will be the ones to beat so we will push hard. A lot of homework today for us but I think we can improve.”

REPORT: Rosberg heads Hamilton and Button in FP2

AS IT HAPPENED: Bahrain Grand Prix FP2

Romain Grosjean's exclusive F1i column - Bahrain

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

Julien Billiotte

Recent Posts

Grosjean proud of Komatsu success with Haas: ‘It’s fantastic!’

Romain Grosjean has shared heartfelt praise for his longtime friend and former Haas race engineer,…

2 hours ago

An F1 journeyman made of the right stuff

Former F1 driver Brett Lunger, who turns 78 on this day, is pictured here hitching…

3 hours ago

Formula 1 extends Monaco Grand Prix deal until 2031

Formula 1 has announced a new agreement with the Automobile Club de Monaco that will…

4 hours ago

Las Vegas GP ready to roll the dice on Verstappen title celebration

The Las Vegas Grand Prix organizers are ready to put together an epic championship celebration…

5 hours ago

Herbert expects McLaren driver dynamic to ‘swap over’ in 2025

Ex-F1 driver and current FIA steward Johnny Herbert believes the 2025 season will bring a…

6 hours ago

Brundle rejects claims of British media bias against Verstappen

Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle has dismissed claims of a British media bias against…

8 hours ago