F1 | Sakhir GP | Vettel: “We have had a mixed day”
The Ferrari driver commented first practice day and expectation of Saturday qualifying.
Friday was not a success for the Ferrari cars. The team's drivers showed weak results in the first session of free practice and also failed to improve their results in the second.
Sebastian Vettel struggled as he tried to find the limit of his SF1000, spinning twice while on his qualifying simulation run. The driver then moved on to the usual long run on the Medium tyres, completing a total of 43 laps and his best time of the evening was a 55.839 set on that compound.
After the first training session, the team decided to change some settings on Vettel's car. However, the changes did not bring the desired result. The German called his results of the second training session "terrible".
"We have had a mixed day: the first session was ok, the second was horrible. We tried some setting changes on the car, but the result was a very aggressive car, which is not what we needed. I hope tomorrow we can close the gap and get back on the right track," – the driver said.
"This track configuration is maybe a bit too short, almost over before it begins, but it’s ok. Turn 4 is more or less as it was last week, a bit faster because it opens up, then it is bumpy between turn 7 and 8 where the kerbs are very aggressive. This part is quite tricky but it’s not bad."
The German also added that Saturday qualifying could be another challenge for Scuderia due to the configuration of the track and traffic, but still expressed encouragement that the team can lift its fortunes.
"With 20 cars on track, Q1 will be very tight especially because of the traffic: we have to go very slowly on the cool-down laps to bring the tyre temperatures down and this complicates things," – Vettel explained.
"I think Q1 should be fine to make it through to Q2, and then I think Q3 could be possible – maybe it’s a little bit better than last week – but I reckon it will be very tight.
I hope all the drivers will manage to get a clean lap without being impeded, or having too much trouble with traffic. It will be very tight and a few hundredths will make the difference."
