Formula 1 2019: Sebastian Vettel confident of Ferrari building on successful practice session

Sao Paulo: Sebastian Vettel said Ferrari can improve on their strong performance in Friday’s second practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix where they were first and second. The German four-time champion, who was fastest ahead of Charles Leclerc, said: “The car was decent today, but we can improve. I’m confident of a step forward.” [caption id=“attachment_7660411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sebastian Vettel finished on top ahead of Charles Leclerc in Friday’s second practice session. AP[/caption] “In the race, it will be difficult because others are quite a bit faster than us, but that’s pretty much in line with the picture we’ve seen in the last couple of races so I’m not surprised,” he added. “I think we can work on ourselves and be in better shape for tomorrow. We do our homework from now and see where it takes us.” In a swipe at Dutchman Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who suggested Ferrari had been cheating after their performance slumped at the United States Grand Prix, he added that such unconfirmed claims were sad. “It’s a bit sad that generally opinion swings so quickly nowadays and it doesn’t take much — it takes one and a half hours and everything is completely different and it takes one race only to make that up,” said Vettel. “But I think the main thing for us is to focus on ourselves and hopefully give the right answer on the track.” Leclerc, who is set to face a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race after taking a new engine, said he was satisfied with Friday’s running in challenging wet and then dry conditions. “It was a positive day in general, even though the conditions were quite tricky,” he said. “But it’s the same for everyone and I think we were quite competitive. So, that’s good and now we look forward to tomorrow.”