Ferrari "four tenths" behind Mercedes says Vettel

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel has said that his Ferrari is still about four tenths behind the pace of Mercedes, but the German is confident that his SF71H is closer to the Silver Arrows than they were last season.

Vettel won somewhat surprisingly in Melbourne after he took full advantage of a Virtual Safety Car situation by pitting at that moment. Vettel managed to defend well against Hamilton the rest of the race and claimed the maximum points at the first race of the season.

Still, Vettel thinks that heading into Bahrain, Ferrari still has a pace deficit to make up, as he thinks the German team are still some tenths of a second ahead.

"If you look at the pace in testing and the first race, then clearly Mercedes is fastest," the four-time champ told Sky Sports F1.

Vettel thinks that Ferrari will still be fighting for wins like they did last year. If the German has a better car than last year, maybe he can squeeze out a legit title challenge that lasts the whole year.