Sebastian Vettel feels it is "about time" Ferrari won the Monaco Grand Prix, having not registered a Formula One victory at the famous street circuit in 16 years.
The German set the pace on Thursday by bagging the fastest-ever lap around Monte Carlo and ended the afternoon session 0.5s clear of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and over a full second clear of title rival Lewis Hamilton in eighth. Ferrari's last win in the principality came in 2001 as Michael Schumacher took victory, leading home a Scuderia 1-2 ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello. Following a strong start to the 2017 season, Vettel reckons Ferrari is ready to return to the top step of the podium in Monaco.
"Monaco is always special -- if you could have the freedom to choose any race on the calendar that you would want to win, it would without doubt be Monaco," Vettel said in an interview with the official F1 website. "You can ask up and down the paddock and you would get the same answer. I would say it is about time that Ferrari wins again here, as I think that the last Ferrari win here was quite a while ago -- if I am not mistaken it was 2001. So yes, we are ready."
Rivals Mercedes finished well off the pace in the second practice session after making a mistake with its setup, as both drivers finished in the lower reaches of the top ten in the timings. Despite Mercedes' apparent struggles, Vettel is tipping the reigning world champions to bounce back on Saturday.
"I am not counting out Mercedes," he said. "They probably had a problem today, but I am sure they will be back to full force on Saturday. It is Thursday so there is plenty of time for them to sort things out.
"My guess is that it will be very close -- and that the five-tenths are not the reality. We have been able to put it together today [Thursday] and I am happy about that. It was a good start into the weekend -- now let's let that sink in and see that we keep the tension until Sunday."
When asked if he feels like the favourite heading into the rest of the weekend, Vettel replied: "We have to get everything right, then we should be in good shape. But especially here you are not entirely the master of your own fate, as many things can happen in a long race. We have seen that many times before. But let's keep the fingers crossed."