“Obviously we looked quite far away from the rest of the field, so [it’s] not ideal. I think [we were] struggling a bit for one lap pace, but also in the long runs,” Vettel said following the running on Friday.

“I think we went through our tyres a bit harder and quicker than the rest, so we need to have a look. But also just looking at ourselves, it wasn’t a good day in terms of feel for the car. I think there’s more that we need to go to,” the four-time world champion added.

Vettel spun his Ferrari towards the end of the session and was heard complaining over the radio about the traffic he encountered on multiple occasions. However, the German says that the disruptions didn’t make a difference to Ferrari’s pace.

“That’s Friday for you, sometimes you have a better Friday, sometimes not. I think for us it wasn’t a particularly clean run in the end, but still good enough,” Vettel said. “I think as I said, we struggled with the tyres with or without traffic. Certainly the traffic doesn’t help. But I think we have some catching up to do.”