The Italian marque looked a good match for Mercedes throughout the weekend, Vettel sweeping Friday practice and running the German team's drivers close during the first two segments of qualifying.

But while Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton produced a thrilling fight for pole in Q3 - the former leading the latter by 0.023s in a Mercedes 1-2 - Vettel had to do with finishing a distant third.

The German, who wound up 0.478s off pole after failing to improve with his second effort in the final segment, recalled: "In Q2 I thought 'okay, it will be tight', happy to go into Q3 - and then I was very happy with my first lap.

"And when I got the time, I was a bit down. Four tenths was a lot more than expected given how good I felt.

"On the last run, I tried probably too hard everywhere, we had nothing to lose. I tried a bit harder but didn't work, was slightly slower. Being a tenth quick [wouldn't be] good enough but I tried.

"We hope to be quicker tomorrow."

Vettel, who did comfortably outqualify teammate Kimi Raikkonen, said he wasn't sure why Ferrari's deficit to Mercedes had grown larger than it had been in the first two rounds of the season.

"I haven't seen where we lost most of the time, but a little spread everywhere," he said. "Sector 1 and 3 stood out, Sector 2 not too bad.

"I don't know if they have an update for here, and they can push harder. We lost a bit more time there, a bit more than usual.

"For tomorrow, the most important thing is the car felt good today."

Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble