Vettel remains optimistic with straight-line advantage

Sebastian Vettel remains optimistic Ferrari can challenge Mercedes on Sunday, despite managing just third-place in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas completed a Mercedes one-two in qualifying, claiming his maiden pole position at the Shanghai International Circuit. Lewis Hamilton was in second, just in front of last season's title rival.

Ferrari, though, still look to have the advantage when it comes to the straights, and with the straight with the chequered flag on it, the DRS zones could prove helpful to Scuderia when the actual race gets underway on Sunday.

"Right from Q1 Mercedes seemed to start from a better place," Vettel said to Sky Sports F1 following Q3. "I think we had a good session, maybe there was a little bit more.I was actually quite happy I managed the final attempt because it was quite marginal on time.

Charles Leclerc managed fourth-place, with Vettel out-qualifying his new team-mate after failing to in Bahrain the round before. Vettel managed pole position for China in 2018, but will have to settle with third on the grid for Sunday's race.