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Sebastian Vettel admits he "has to do a little better" after being outqualified by new Red Bull Formula 1 team-mate Daniel Ricciardo for the third time this season in China.

The four-time world champion qualified third for the Chinese Grand Prix, a little over half a second behind the Australian, and more than a second in arrears of polesitter Lewis Hamilton.

The result sparked Vettel into admitting that he has to improve is he is to take the intra-team fight to Ricciardo.

Chinese GP qualifying report

"This year is very, very different, the cars are different, you cannot compare last year to this year," Vettel said.

"Daniel is doing a very good job. He has not had one good weekend, he has had [consistent] good weekends.

"So far he is able to get the maximum out of the car, and on my side, maybe I am struggling a bit more.

"But at the end we have the same car so if he beats me he beats me fair and square. That is not to my liking. Equally I know I have to do a little bit better."

Vettel added that the team is focused on holding on to a podium spot in Sunday's race, but that weather could well play its part.

"They say the weather should be fine tomorrow but you cannot trust the weather forecast, so it's best to look out the window in the morning and see what you have," he said.

"With tyres we are a bit compromised, as we used those tyres today. Hopefully we can finish similar to where we started."