Sebastian Vettel says tests of Ferrari’s latest upgrade package have been “successful” at the Red Bull Ring.
Ferrari introduced several new parts at Paul Ricard last week but removed a floor upgrade after running it on Friday. Vettel said further testing of the parts today has been positive.
“We didn’t try [new] upgrades,” said Vettel. “We tried to, obviously, understand a little bit more what happened last weekend with the bits that we tried. And I think it was successful.
“At least, we were able to learn. And now we need to take the time that we need to understand what to address next.”
Vettel says there’s still scope to improve the car’s set-up on a track which was expected to play to the Ferrari’s strong straight-line speed. “We tried a bit of stuff in the afternoon, maybe it was a bit better in the morning.
“In terms of track layout it’s probably true maybe it helps us a bit. But still a tricky track. Very difficult to make much of a difference, it’s very short, so crucial to have a good feel in the car and that’s what we need to work on.”
Vettel’s team mate Charles Leclerc also believes the team are in stronger shape this weekend.
“In [second practice] the conditions were quite tricky, the wind changed quite a lot. But overall the car felt quite good so that’s positive. But I expect a stronger Mercedes tomorrow so it’s going to be very difficult to keep them behind, but we’ll do everything.
“I still believe we are a little bit behind [Mercedes]. We are definitely closer than we were in Paul Ricard but I still think we are behind.”
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