Sebastian Vettel admits he is starting the Russian Grand Prix on the back foot after struggling for pace in his Ferrari during Friday practice.
Vettel set the fifth fastest time during the second practice session and finished 0.543s off title rival Lewis Hamilton. Although the Red Bulls in third and fourth will be shuffled to the back of the grid with engine penalties, the gap to Mercedes is still significant on a weekend when Vettel needs to win to keep his realistic championship chances alive.
It was a similar story during race simulations in FP2 after Vettel spun on his first attempt on hyper-soft tyres and then struggled with tyre degradation on the ultra-softs.