SPIELBERG BEI KNITTELFELD, Austria, Jul 11 – Sebastian Vettel admitted Ferrari are struggling to keep pace with their rivals after he qualified 10th ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc for Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix.
The four-time world champion, who is being released by the Italian team at the end of this season, had been encouraged by the performance of Ferrari’s upgrades on Friday, but said he was disappointed with their wet weather set-up.
“It was a difficult session for us,” he said.
“We struggled to get the tyres to work and now we have to have a good look to see why. I had lots of aquaplaning in particular at the end of Q2 and in Q3 as well.
“So not ideal. We need to make sure we learn the maximum we can from this session and take it into the next wet session.
“Tomorrow should be dry which is a bit different. We fight and try everything we can tomorrow.”
Leclerc, who had finished a fortunate second in last Sunday’s season-opening Austrian Grand Prix, failed to make the cut to the top-ten shootout in intense rain at the Red Bull Ring circuit.
“Unfortunately, we had the rain when we went on the second set (of tyres),” said Leclerc.
“But the main problem was that we were just not quick enough. There was just not much we could do.
“We were 1.8 off. However, we look at it, we are just too slow at the moment. We just need to work.”
