Vettel denies 2019 focus

It’s been a tough weekend for Ferrari so far finishing fifth and sixth in FP2 and were well off the pace of the Red Bull pair and Valtteri Bottas. There has been speculation that The Scuderia are using the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as a test for 2019 with nothing left to win after Mercedes claimed both titles.

Despite this Vettel has said he is fully focused on each Abu Dhabi session and not on 2019 after he finished sixth in FP2.

Speaking after the session to La Gazzetta Dello Sport, when asked about if there was a focus on 2019 Vettel replied: "No, I'm concentrating on the sessions doing their best, in 2019 there are still several months left, we can learn something more from the car this year and maybe this can also be the key to going faster tomorrow.”

Vettel’s teammate, Kimi Raikkonen who is leaving to join Sauber in 2019 being replaced by Charles Leclerc spoke about how it was tough, to begin with, but got used to the track as he got into the second session.

"At the beginning it was more complicated, some difficulties more in the first session, the second was easier. We are a bit behind the times but let's see how to do for tomorrow.”

The team are expected to increase their engine power going into Saturday's qualifying.