"Ferrari should be better than that"

Sebastian Vettel was surprised by Mercedes' dominant pace in qualifying on Saturday, with the Ferrari driver hoping for a turnaround on Sunday.

Ferrari arrived in Melbourne as an all-time favorite to take the lead from the start based on their pre-season test form.

But Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton dominated all sessions at Albert Park, leaving his main rival disoriented by the rhythm of the Silver Arrows team.

"I'm certainly surprised, I think everyone is, probably even themselves," said the German who finished third qualifying, 0.704 seconds behind Hamilton.

"I think yesterday we did not have a good day and we feel better today, but the gap and the pace were very similar.

"We certainly have homework to do to understand, I still think we have a great car, we should be better than that, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

Vettel alluded to a specific advantage of the track for Mercedes, with Melbourne's slow and middle turns better suited to the W10 of the German team.

"I do not think the straight is a problem because we are competitive enough in straight lines, we just lose in turns," he said.

"There are 16 bends around us and I think it's pretty evenly distributed.

"Probably judging by its appearance and up to now, it was more about the low and the medium, rather than the high speed, which also speaks of a strong car in general . "

Vettel acknowledged that his SF90 did not feel as good in Australia as during winter testing, but the German also pointed to distinct circumstances to justify the difference.

"We probably have something like 10-15 degrees more ambient [temperature], a warmer track and a different circuit, so conditions are globally different, "he added.

"But the car felt really good during testing and probably not over here this weekend until now, she was not feeling so good.

"Yesterday was a difficult day for us, it was difficult.Today, I felt a little better, but we do not have much time to try different things.

"You have to cope, the sessions go fast, especially in qualifying, you can not change much, if you understand better where you lose or where you feel uncomfortable."

"For us, there is a bit of room, but certainly the gap is there today and was a surprise, we did not expect it to come here. It's like that and we focus on tomorrow and do not worry about the gap now. "

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