Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari lacked “a little bit of everything” against Formula 1 rival Merce♏des during quali🍌fying for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday after failing to get in the fight for pole position.

Ferrari arrived in Australia tipped by many as the favourite following an impressive showing through pre-season testing, only for🤪 Mercedes to take a one-two in qualifying🔯, with Vettel finishing 0.7 seconds behind pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton in third.

The result came as a surprise to many, inc🐷luding Vettel, who admitted Ferrari did not expect to be ♊so far behind.

“The car felt really good at testing, and probably🍎 around here so far this weekend, itꦆ didn’t feel as good yet,” Vettel said.

“Yesterday was a difficult day for us, it was tricky. Today felt a b🅘it better, but there’s not an 💜awful lot of time to try different things.

“There’s still for🐻 us a bit of margin, but certainly the gap is there today, and was a surprise. We didn’t expect it coming here.

“But now it is that way. We focus on tomorrow and don’t worry about the gap n❀ow.”

Hamilton was able to take a sixt🐎h consecutive Australian Grand Prix pole ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas, with Vettel failing to get within half a second of either Mercedes 🀅car.

Vettel’s teammate, Charles Leclerc, qualified fifth, more than a second in arrearꦺs𝕴 to Hamilton.

Asked where he felt Ferrari’s car was lacking compared to Mercedes ꦑon Saturday, V🍃ettel said it was “a little bit of everything”.

“I don’t think straight line is a problem, I think we are quite competitive in the straights, but I think we a🦄re losing in the corne🐈rs,” Vettel added.

“[There are] 16 corners around here, and I think it’s fairly even on the straights, so probably if 🦋I look most of it so far, it was more the medium and lower speed stuff rather than the high-speed stuff, which I think speaks for a strong 💝car in general.

“I haven’t got the balance yet that maybe I’d 𝄹like to have, especially in slower speed, not t💝he confidence and trust that around here make a big difference.

“When the gap is so big, 𒅌we must lose time in more than one place. For tomorrow, I don’t know in the race if it will be closer.

“Today the car was better, and I expect it🐈 to be better again tomorrow.”