Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Sebastian Vettel is upbeat about Ferrari's chances of success this weekend after getting a good feel for the car in FP1 at Suzuka.
Vettel was quickest in dry FP1 conditions in Japan, but did not set a timed lap in FP2 due to heavy rain showers all-but making the afternoon a wash-out.
Nevertheless, Vettel is confident that Japan can be the place where Ferrari turn their fortunes back around.
"Obviously the results were not the best over the last couple of races but I think we are strong and I think we have all reasons to be confident," Vettel said after practice.
"I'm pretty sure that on Sunday we'll be able to show what we can do.
"We brought some changes to Malaysia, not so much for here but it's only a couple of days later. I think overall the car is working and it's up to us to improve. I think we are on track, it's doing what we expected.
"So now we just need to make sure that the results are coming.
"I think it was a decent morning obviously we tried to do a lot of things but it was good to run and get a feel. The car was behaving well right from the start so it looks like everything is on plan.
"This afternoon was expected to be wet.
"We would've loved to run a little bit more but I think we know the situation with the tyres so you never know how much running is right because you don't want to burn the tyres but overall that's how it is and it's the same for everyone."
Raikkonen, meanwhile, was characteristically unconcerned about his lack of running in FP2, despite being first out on track once the lights went green.
"We didn't even try to learn anything," he shrugged. "Obviously it's very limited on the tyres. In case if it's wet tomorrow and in qualifying then we have to save the full wets."
