Vettel: Ferrari have a long way to go to be on the level of their rivals

Sebastian Vettel has mixed feelings following the opening two sessions of the US Grand Prix weekend. The Ferrari driver admitted the car felt good early on but some changes they've made have not paid off.

Vettel finished the first session in P2 after being pipped to the top of the timesheets by Max Verstappen. However, the German dropped down to fourth as the Mercedes got back in contention.

Despite a respectable days work Vettel feels the team have a big job on their hands if they are to get back on top.

"It's always fun here in Austin, even if the track is probably not in the best condition, given how many bumps there are," Vettel said as quoted by Motorsport.com.

"But that's it, we can't do anything about it and this makes everything a bit more complicated.

"The car initially seemed good to me, and this is good, but then we tried some changes that didn't go in the right direction.

"If nothing else, we understood what we need and I think we can improve on the fast lap. the race pace, however, there is still a long way to go to be at the level of rivals."