Despite having led the early stages in Australia, Vettel has been unable to stop Mercedes rival Nico Rosberg opening up a comfortable lead in the championship standings thanks to his hat-trick of wins.

And with Ferrari having openly set its sights on title glory this year, Vettel is well aware that there is a need to step up the results soon.

"I guess there is a natural sense of pressure, especially from myself," he said. "I think there were races where I was happy and occasions I know I didn't do the best job possible. That is how it is.

"The expectation from the outside is not as high as it is from the inside, and when you finish second the year before, it is natural progression rather than to say we want to do the same or finish third.

"We didn't have the first three race we were looking for. But we've shown we are in a better position than last year. We said many times that we are much happier with the car: it gives us more room to play so we are on the right track and therefore I am not overly concerned.

"It is about putting things together and things coming together with circumstances or whatever you call it. But for sure we are not sitting here waiting to have a lucky race. We are proactive. We are working very hard and we want to make progress so that we can create that success."

Rosberg caution

Rosberg has said several times that he is expecting a return to form for Ferrari, despite Mercedes having taken pole position and victory at each race so far this season.

The German said: "I'm not really sounding any notes of caution. I'm just realistic and Ferrari, amongst others, just haven't shown what they can do yet. They've taken each other out in the last race, for example, in the first corner and from then it was just messy.

"A lot of things have been going wrong and for sure they are a lot quicker than they have shown and we think they are very, very close to us."

Responding to Rosberg's remarks, Vettel said: "I cannot imagine he wants us to be very close but I hope we can be close, have a smooth weekend and see exactly where we are.

"But we know that we are not yet close enough. The race is on Sunday and there is always a chance."

Development push

Vettel and teammate Kimi Raikkonen's bid for victory in Russia will be helped by a new front wing and an engine upgrade.

Speaking about the power unit, Raikkonen said: "We have a certain plan like we had last year all the way through the year to improve certain things, and make new parts for certain races.

"The plan is again similar. We are following it and it is a different engine, new engine, but it is normal progress through the year. Is it going to make an awful lot of difference? I don't know.

"My engine had nothing wrong. It is just a new specification. I don't know how it is going to be, we will see."

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