Vettel believes Ferrari gap to Mercedes "too big" in China

Sebastian Vettel has claimed Mercedes have "too big" of a gap to his Ferrari team following the Chinese Grand Prix qualifying.

Vettel led the grid in the opening practice session at the Shanghai International Circuit, but Mercedes have dominated in China ever since.

The four-time world champion was forced to settle with third-place on the grid, with title rival Lewis Hamilton and potential title rival Valtteri Bottas topping the timesheets in Q3.

Asked by Motorsport.com if the gap to Mercedes was breakable, Vettel said: "It's too big. We'd like it to be the other way round, obviously, but I think we had a decent session.

"It's important if we can't beat them to be right behind them, so we have some options tomorrow hopefully. On our side, I think we were able to improve the car from where we were yesterday so I'm reasonably happy with that, but not entirely happy. I think there was a little bit more. It was a bit tricky today to put the laps together."