<p>Sebastian Vettel believes pre-season favourites Ferrari have worked out why they lacked pace in Formula One’s Australian opener but he stopped short on Thursday of promising a resurgence in Bahrain.</p>.<p>The German and new team mate Charles Leclerc were surprisingly slow around Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit two weeks ago, finishing fourth and fifth nearly a minute behind the Mercedes of race winner Valtteri Bottas.</p>.<p>That prompted much head-scratching back at the team’s Maranello headquarters, especially after Ferrari had lit up the timing screens in winter testing.</p>.<p>"The last couple of weeks have been very intense," Vettel told reporters at Bahrain’s Sakhir desert track.</p>.<p>"I think we have some answers but, as always, you never get all the answers because we never get the chance to go back and repeat.</p>.<p>"I think we are not in a position to be able to make promises. The truth is that we need to wait and see."</p>.<p>Ferrari have the best record of any team in Bahrain with six wins. Vettel, the most successful driver there, has won four times including the last two in a row.</p>.<p>Ferrari also arrived in Bahrain last year with questions about their pace but Vettel led a front-row lockout in qualifying, followed by a win. He also seized pole position at the next two races.</p>.<p>The German is hopeful Ferrari’s performance this year in Melbourne, with Albert Park regarded as an outlier circuit, will again be a one-off.</p>.<p>"There's always some lessons -- some were about the set-up, others were about the (circuit) configuration,” said the four-times world champion.</p>.<p>"You throw everything in the mix and we have reason to believe we should be stronger here, but I don't want to put a number to it."</p>.<p>Leclerc echoed those comments.</p>.<p>"We expect to be more competitive," said the Monegasque. "We will only see here whether it was only track specific or if there is something else, but I am pretty confident in the package we have."</p>
<p>Sebastian Vettel believes pre-season favourites Ferrari have worked out why they lacked pace in Formula One’s Australian opener but he stopped short on Thursday of promising a resurgence in Bahrain.</p>.<p>The German and new team mate Charles Leclerc were surprisingly slow around Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit two weeks ago, finishing fourth and fifth nearly a minute behind the Mercedes of race winner Valtteri Bottas.</p>.<p>That prompted much head-scratching back at the team’s Maranello headquarters, especially after Ferrari had lit up the timing screens in winter testing.</p>.<p>"The last couple of weeks have been very intense," Vettel told reporters at Bahrain’s Sakhir desert track.</p>.<p>"I think we have some answers but, as always, you never get all the answers because we never get the chance to go back and repeat.</p>.<p>"I think we are not in a position to be able to make promises. The truth is that we need to wait and see."</p>.<p>Ferrari have the best record of any team in Bahrain with six wins. Vettel, the most successful driver there, has won four times including the last two in a row.</p>.<p>Ferrari also arrived in Bahrain last year with questions about their pace but Vettel led a front-row lockout in qualifying, followed by a win. He also seized pole position at the next two races.</p>.<p>The German is hopeful Ferrari’s performance this year in Melbourne, with Albert Park regarded as an outlier circuit, will again be a one-off.</p>.<p>"There's always some lessons -- some were about the set-up, others were about the (circuit) configuration,” said the four-times world champion.</p>.<p>"You throw everything in the mix and we have reason to believe we should be stronger here, but I don't want to put a number to it."</p>.<p>Leclerc echoed those comments.</p>.<p>"We expect to be more competitive," said the Monegasque. "We will only see here whether it was only track specific or if there is something else, but I am pretty confident in the package we have."</p>