The 3rd of July marked the start of the 2020 F1 season with the first free practice session being held in Austria. Finally, since the winter tests in February, did fans get to see their favorite drivers and teams back on the track. It was also the first time fans got to watch Sebastian Vettel, behind the steering wheel of the Ferrari SF1000 since their split.

However, the 4-time world champion was very blunt in his assessment of the car and the team’s chances.

Sebastian Vettel admits that the SF1000 is found lacking in a lot of areas

Formula1.com interviewed Vettel after the end of both free practice sessions. The German, who finished 12th in the first session and 4th in the second, admitted that the day wasn’t all that bad. He said, “I think we had a decent day. We didn’t have any troubles with the car, so I think it was good, first of all, to be back in the car, it was good to see the team got up to speed fairly quickly. There was no problems running through all the procedures. It all clicked again.”

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The German driver conceded that the Silver Arrows remain the favorites, “In terms of speed and competitiveness, it was an interesting day. We see we’re not at the top, as I said, we are not the favorites. I think Mercedes was very, very strong as expected.”

He expects that the fight between the chasing pack will be a tight one. Nevertheless, he expects Ferrari to come out on top. He said, “There’s a lot of stuff going on behind that, it’s very tight. Tomorrow will be a big day, we’ll try to obviously be the leaders of whatever group there is behind.”

When asked if the car was capable of doing better than today, he said, “Well right now no. But it’s up to us to obviously develop and work so that the car gets faster. We’re lacking grip, lacking downforce compared to others. We’re lacking a little bit down the straight, our car is a little bit too draggy at the moment. It is a mix of all these things.”

Ferrari fans will hope that Vettel can replicate the 4th place finish even in qualifying. They’d also hope that starting from there, he can push for a podium, come Sunday.