Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel drove his way into the presentation of Ferrari Land, a new ride in the PortAventura theme park in north-eastern Spain on Thursday (7 May).

Quadruple world champion Vettel, who failed to win a race at Red Bull last season after ending 2013 on a dominant high with nine wins in a row, is now in the run for silverware and leading his team's "silver versus red" battle against Mercedes.

Reigning champion Mercedes was surprised in Malaysia by Ferrari's newcomer, and the 27-year-old has no intention of lowering the pressure.

"Obviously it is very nice to see that it is going in the right direction. Since I joined people have been very nice and welcomed me in a very nice way, it has been very exciting," said Vettel.

"For me, in many ways, it is a dream come true. It was the team I was looking up to when I was a child, obviously with Michael [Schumacher] racing, so it is nice to become a part of that and even nicer to see that the team is progressing."

Vettel and team mate Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari's most recent champion after taking the 2007 title, are expected to make a solid partnership.

Asked about the Spanish Grand prix in which he will race this weekend, Vettel said:

"I think we had a very strong start of the season. Of course, you have to keep your feet on the ground. We know there is still a long long way to catch up but we should have maybe a better chance this weekend.

"We have new parts and hopefully we can make a step forward but it always depends on what other people are doing. And the gap to the front is still very big. But we are fighting very hard, trying everything and hopefully very soon we will be a fair match," he said.

At the ceremony, Vettel placed the first stone of Ferrari Land alongside the racing team's principal Maurizio Arrivabene, the amusement park's president Arturo Mas Sarda and Catalan President Artur Mas.

Arrivabene, the latest of three Ferrari principals in the space of a year, arrived at the glamour team after it ended the season in Abu Dhabi without a single race win for the first time since 1993, and the conclusion of the campaign also saw the departure of double world champion Fernando Alonso.

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