Vettel still hopeful of Russian victory despite P3 on the grid

Sebastian Vettel says he is still hopeful of a race victory in tomorrow's Russian Grand Prix despite starting on the second row of the grid. The Ferrari driver struggled to match the pace of the Mercedes pair who seemed in a class of their own at the front.

Speaking after qualifying, Vettel joked that neither Mercedes driver could be complacent at the start, pointing to Valtteri Bottas' incredible start last year to take the lead from third on the grid.

"I just spoke to Valtteri and reminded him what happened last year, so maybe we can turn it around," Vettel said.

"It would be nice, it depends on the start, the initial jump, and then you know where you are and we'll see what we can do for the first corner.

"But after that it's a long race, so tricky one but for sure if there's a gap we'll go for it."

Despite Ferrari looking a long way off of Mercedes' pace all weekend, Vettel maintained that they could be in with a chance of victory in the race if they can make tyre strategy work in their favour.

"It was important to get as close as possible to them and we'll see but it's true they've been very quick so we'll see tomorrow. It is a long race, we've seen the tyres are very important.

"Today I think it should have been a bit closer, the gap, but (we had) not enough to be a threat. I had a tiny mistake in the last sector but I knew I had to improve by half a second. I had to try, it didn't work, but I'm quite happy. The car felt alright, so that makes me positive for Sunday."