• Australian GP - FP2

Friday practice 'a big relief' - Vettel

ESPN Staff
March 14, 2014 « Hamilton confident FP1 issue a one-off | Massa sure there's more to come from Williams »
Who will be fastest on the track?
Related Links

Sebastian Vettel said Friday practice in Australia was "a big relief" for Red Bull after the team enjoyed a much more positive day of running compared to pre-season testing.

Vettel's day got off to a slow start with a problem that kept him in the garage for the first 50 minutes of first practice, but ended the second session with the fourth fastest time and 41 laps. He believes the team's hard work between the final test and this weekend has paid off and said there is more pace to come from his car.

"It was a big relief and there is a lot of work that went into this," Vettel said. "The biggest difference is that we got new parts. Not necessarily performance parts, but still new parts. We didn't have the spares in testing and we ended up with a fix here or there, so I think that's the biggest difference. Neither of us had big problems today, the car was running and the balance felt very good. In terms of speed we know there is a lot to come, but otherwise very good."

But Vettel was not underestimating the amount of catch-up work Red Bull still has to do.

"Every lap right now is useful. Obviously, I've done a lot of laps in my life but not so much in this car and in these conditions. It's a lot of new stuff for the team and myself, and we have to take each step and make sure we don't rush into things. Today was a very good day."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
ESPN Staff Close