Vettel says "a lot" more to come from Ferrari

The German was fifth fastest, half a second adrift of pace-setter Lewis Hamilton, in the second session as Ferrari appeared to be edged out by Red Bull.

But despite a far from easy day, Vettel reckoned that there potential for a big step to come over the remainder of the Melbourne weekend.

"Boring work, like every Friday, no different," he said about the day. "We tried to actually change the balance a bit, because I didn't feel very comfortable.

"I think we still have quite a lot of performance in hand. I'm not too worried because I know if I get everything right, we should be in better shape.

"It looks to be close, which is good news, so we should be able to do something tomorrow."

Although testing suggested that Ferrari had not made the step forward it had hoped to this winter, Vettel said he retained faith that the SF71H could deliver.

"I think the car is fine. It's not yet where I want it to be, a bit of work to do, but if we get that straight it should be fine," he said.

"I think certainly we have a little bit in hand. I wasn't happy with the lap that I had, and with the rhythm and the balance yet, so there's more to come. But I think that's probably the same for everyone else.

"But I do hope I can make a bigger step than the others. If it's close, then it's good, it means that you can do something. Hopefully it stays that close, but we'll find out tomorrow."

Additional reporting by Adam Cooper