3
Sebastian Vettel is remaining cautious when it comes to evaluating Ferrari's pace around the Red Bull Ring after Friday practice.
The Maranello squad topped the second practice session, which saw its rivals Mercedes and Red Bull make contact with the barriers.
MORE: Verstappen crash a result of being 'caught out' by wind | Bottas has found 'clear direction' despite Friday issues
Vettel also had a hairy moment as he lost the car at the final corner, but managed to slow down enough before any contact with the wall was made.
"Unfortunately, we couldn't get the long run on the softs," Vettel said. "But other than that it had no further impact, the car was fine.
"Normally you are pushing but obviously we didn't volunteer to go off. It was tricky in the afternoon, especially with the conditions. Fortunately, from my side it didn't have a big impact.
Vettel says that Ferrari always looks stronger on a Friday compared to the other teams, and therefore is going into Saturday with an open mind about the weekend.
"In practice, it always looks a bit stronger for us than in practice than qualifying and the race. We need to be cautious. We're still trying a lot of things to get closer so hopefully tomorrow we can have a good feel and do better than today.
Vettel added that Ferrari didn't test any new parts as it looked to understand why it upgrades in France failed to bring significant improvements.
MORE: Ferrari didn't get 'all the answers' from test items in France
"We didn't try upgrades," Vettel confirmed. "We tried to understand more what happened last weekend with the bits that we tried. I think it was useful and we were able to learn.
"We can still improve the car, we tried some stuff in the afternoon that was a bit better than the morning. Fairly normal, the track layout helps us a bit."
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
280,551 comments on Aston Martin
59 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Sebastian Vettel
483,788 comments on Ferrari 279 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Ferrari
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Fp3: Ferrari clear off Merc by .3 sec.
Quali: Merc 1-2
Fans: (facepalm) why did we kept our hopes high??