Ferrari prioritises mileage over times to leave Vettel in risky 16th

Sebastian Vettel was remaining upbeat about his chances ahead of the Styrian Grand Prix despite finding himself mired towards the back of the pack in 16th overall after what may turn out to be a crucial FP2.

A week after Ferrari struggled for pace around the Red Bull Ring, round two at the same circuit appears to be even worse on paper with only Charles Leclerc able to get a Ferrari-powered car into the top ten in ninth.

With many rivals treating FP2 as a de facto qualifying session in fear of qualifying being washed out by forecast storms on Saturday, Ferrari nonetheless focused its efforts on developing its new parts rather than chasing a top time.

While this meant Vettel was down in 16th, which was in part hampered by his best time being deleted for track limits, he was nonetheless positive about the upgrades.

“[It was] a lot better than last week, if you look at the timing sheet obviously I got the lap deleted and it was not a great day for lap times but I think some people anticipated maybe rain tomorrow and prepared in case it rains for qualifying.

“I think on our side the main thing was to look after the upgrade we brought so step by step we were putting stuff on and it seems to be positive, I think we still need to have a look and now find the window where the car is happiest.

“We tried some stuff so usual homework and I tried a lot of stuff on the brakes, still need to get into a better rhythm especially after the last weekend but I felt a lot better already.”

Hoping to get out on track for some form of qualifying session, even if it’s in the wet, Vettel believes a damp session will give Ferrari a stronger chance

“Wet would increase our chances, let’s see. If it is so wet that nobody can drive it’s too wet but I think if it’s wet it could mix things up.”