Vettel confident despite 'tricky' Shanghai circuit

Sebastian Vettel took on questions from journalists following his win at the Bahrain Grand Prix, and predicted a "tricky" next race as he turned his attention to the Shanghai Grand Prix this weekend. The German insists he is "confident" following two wins out of two so far.

Vettel has enjoyed a fantastic start to the 2018 season, and claimed his second victory on the bounce on Sunday in Bahrain following his opening win in Australia,

Sitting down with the media following his second win, Vettel was asked whether he was happy with the performance of his car. The German was positive in his response.

"As I’ve touched on many times this weekend, I had more confidence in the car, a better feel," the race winner admitted.

"I don’t know how to explain the best way but if you have more confidence and the car’s responding to your input then ultimately you go faster because you know what to expect and you can anticipate and overall you are happier. I think that’s the main step that we did for this weekend, working for the setup."

Vettel then looked ahead to Shanghai, and predicts a much more "tricky" experience for the drivers due to the more challenging circuit.

"Now Shanghai’s a completely different course, with different conditions. Usually it’s quite a bit cooler there.

"So, we’ll see when we get there – but yeah, it’s a tricky one to get everything right. The setup again will be crucial for us. It seems a bit more difficult to get into the window but if we do like this weekend, and we find the sweet spot, then I’m pretty confident that we can do well there as well. "

History suggests, even at this early stage, that Vettel is favourite to go on and win the championship now, as no driver has claimed the flag in the opening two Grand Prix races of the season without winning the title since 1982.