Vettel disappointed: “There has to be more”

In the first two training sessions, the World Championship chaser actually wanted to get in the mood for his race to catch up with leader Lewis Hamilton. Instead, the 31-year-old German had to realize: “It didn't look so good for us, we had problems both on one lap and over the distance. There has to be more.”

Vettel was able to set the fastest time in the first free practice session on the 5,848 kilometer long course through the Olympic Park in Sochi, but then Mercedes and World Championship leader Hamilton set the pace. The Brit, who is 40 points ahead of Vettel, distanced himself from his pursuer by more than half a second. The Ferrari driver had to struggle with his tires.

“We have to concentrate on ourselves. “It doesn’t make much sense to look at the others,” said Vettel, who has never won in Sochi. “Even without other people on the track, we would have noticed that it wasn’t a good day and that we needed to do more.”

Unpleasant memories Despite the difficult start, Vettel is hoping for a place at the front of the grid - even if he remembered last year before qualifying on Saturday (14.00 p.m. / RTL). At that time, Vettel was at the front, but had to admit defeat to Hamilton's stable rival Valtteri Bottas in the race. “It wasn't a good omen for us last year, but we also had a significant deficit in terms of performance. This year it’s not quite the case.”

Hamilton, on the other hand, has been waiting for another victory on the Black Sea for two years. “Sochi has been one of my weaker tracks in the past, especially last year. “So I worked a lot on understanding the balance and finding out where I can improve and change that,” said the 33-year-old, who finished fourth in 2017. Friday gave him courage. He wants to continue in qualifying, much to Vettel's chagrin.

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Winter sports

Tennis

Other sports

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

Vettel disappointed: “There has to be more”

Sebastian Vettel was disappointed in Russia after his start to the all-important Formula 1 weekend.

Suggestions

Comments (0)