Vettel not concerned by Red Bull's F1 practice pace

Sebastian Vettel sees no reason why Ferrari cannot take the fight to Red Bull through the remainder of the Monaco Formula 1 race weekend despite trailing Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen in both FP1 and FP2 on Thursday.

Red Bull swept to a one-two finish in both sessions as Ricciardo recorded a new Monaco track record of 1m11.841s in FP2, beating Verstappen by almost two-tenths of a second.

2017 Monaco winner Vettel ended the day third-fastest, lapping half a second slower than Ricciardo, but sees no reason why Ferrari cannot bridge the gap ahead of qualifying on Saturday.

“Why not? I think we have had some Fridays where [Red Bull] are quick, so I think for us we need to look at ourselves which is what we do and try to do our work,” Vettel said.

“I was pretty comfortable in the car. I was sliding a little bit too much but as long as you know where it is going to end up and how it is going to slide, then it’s fine. Now we need to get on top of the sliding and reduce it then we should be in a good position.

"Monaco is always about traffic and obviously we had the red flag so then everybody is storming out and it’s a bit of a casino on the track. I think it was OK, but I’m not so happy in the second and the last sector.

"I trust the car so I can play around but I’m sliding a little bit too much and it costs time. There are things we can do better. I think we got the best out of the tyres when we were running due to traffic.

"For Saturday, it will be very close. I couldn’t pick a favourite."

Vettel will return to the track for Ferrari for FP3 on Saturday, with Friday being the traditional rest day in Monaco.