Sebastian Vettel will start the Australian Grand Prix from the front row of the grid after a strong performance from the Scuderia Ferrari team on Saturday.
The German was just 0.268 seconds away from pole sitter Lewis Hamilton but crucially 0.025 seconds faster than Valtteri Bottas as he split the two Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers, and Vettel feels that the team have progressed significantly across the off-season in order to be able to take the fight to the reigning World Champions.
“If we look back twelve months, the progress we have made is clear to see,” said Vettel. “We are working well as a team, having had a great winter; a winter of changes, but all for the best.”
Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen will start fourth on the grid but felt he did not get the best out of his SF70H during the session, meaning he ended up 0.845 seconds down on Hamilton’s time but ahead of Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing.
“I made life complicated for myself right from the first session: I never managed to put all the sectors together and that cost me lap time,” said Raikkonen. “But the car feels strong and I just have to do better.”
