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Vettel, who moved from Red Bull at the end of last year, said
on Thursday it could take some time for it to happen however.
"It depends how strong and dominant Mercedes will start into the
season," said the German, speaking at a sponsor event. "It is
expected that they will be very strong. But for the pack behind
them it will be very tense."
"I hope that we are there and establish ourselves in the mid to
long term this season as the second force. That would be a huge
step forward."
Mercedes' double world champion Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg
are widely expected to dominate again this year with the Briton
winning 11 races and his team mate five last season.
The 'Silver Arrows' have looked ominous in testing ahead of the
season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 15.
McLaren's Fernando Alonso will be absent from Australia on
doctors' orders, with the Spaniard still recovering from his
crash in testing in Barcelona last month.
Alonso spent three nights in hospital last week after losing
control and hitting the wall in testing in Barcelona on Feb. 22.
"I was directly behind him but still too far away to clearly see
how the accident happened. I only saw the end of it," Vettel
said.
"The crash did not look that dramatic. Obviously it was a shock
to hear that he lost consciousness in the first moments and that
he unfortunately suffered a concussion. But thank God it was not
worse."
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Alan Baldwin)
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