Binotto says "different engine modes" produced 0.6 second gap over Mercedes

Mattia Binotto is expecting a tough battle with rivals Mercedes tomorrow despite a 0.6-second gap in Friday practice. His drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc topped both timesheets, and the team principal believes this is due to "different engine modes".

“Today we focused on ourselves and our problems and the modifications we made after Australia, and to react and address the issues that we had,” Binotto told RaceFans.

He expects the 0.6 lead to quickly vanish on track tomorrow as he insists Friday's results are "misleading".

“The others will be very strong tomorrow. I think it’s quite obvious, you may see the GPS data, the speed on the straight, we were certainly pushing different engine modes compared to what the others were doing today. So I’m expecting a very tough battle tomorrow," Binotto added.

Everyone expected Ferrari to be on top in Australia, but it wasn't to be. Binotto is confident Scuderia has ironed out any problems and claims they've "improved the situation.

"We improved our situation after Australia. This is quite a different track so let’s say that we do not at least have to date the problem we suffered in Australia thanks, yes, to the track, and also thanks to modifications we made," he concluded.