Sebastian Vettel secured his first victory of the season last weekend in Singapore and showed strong signs of repeating this in Russia with a positive start to the weekend. The German finished 3rd in the FP1 before coming 5th in the FP2 in Sochi.
The experienced Ferrari driver currently sits in 5th place in the drivers' standings after his victory last weekend, six points behind Max Verstappen and teammate Charles Leclerc.
"I'm sure the grip I didn't find today with Soft tires will be found tomorrow," Vettel said.
"It was a pretty weird day, especially this afternoon. I found a good feeling, not a bad one."
"We'll see if we can break the domination of the Mercedes on this track. Today we have proven to be quite competitive and the closer we are to being at the top, the better for us.