Sebastian Vettel is confident that there is “more potential” in his Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 car, after a quiet Friday for the world championship leader in practice for the French Grand Prix.
Victory in Canada in the previous race, allowed Vettel to take a one-point championship lead on F1’s return to the France for the first time in a decade.
Although the German driver was happy with the SF71-H in practice around the Paul Ricard circuit, he was hopeful of finding more raw pace in the car, ahead of qualifying on Saturday.
“The long-runs felt quite consistent, although I haven’t seen much of what the other teams did,” explained Vettel whose fastest time of the day was a 1m:33.17s set in FP1, some 0.5s quicker than his FP2 effort.
Team-mate Kimi Räikkönen out-paced Vettel in both sessions, finishing just ahead in fourth place on both occasions.
“I think the car has more potential here, especially on the fast laps, which we need to unlock for tomorrow and then we will be fine.”
Wind plays a role
One factor that Vettel felt had hindered a little performance on his super and ultrasoft Pirelli tyre runs was the direction and speed of the wind.
During FP1, a strong headwind wa spresent approaching Turn 3, while in the afternoon session, it had turnt to become a tailwind through the same corner.
“The wind was quite an issue at the beginning of the session, but then it calmed down and it all started to come together. In the end, I was reasonably happy with today’s run.”
Räikkönen took pole position on F1s last visit to France in 2008, albeit at the Magny-Cours circuit.
Then team-mate Felipe Massa rounded out the front-row of the grid as the Brazilian led the Finn home to claim a 1-2 finish.
