Ferrari’s Vettel says all’s not lost just yet
abu dhabi — Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel said that all was not lost just yet despite the Italian marquee being upstaged by the Mercedes in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton locked out the front row with the former clinching his second pole with his new team and the fourth pole position of his career.
Vettel, who could only muster 1:36.777 seconds to the poleclinching 1:36.231 seconds, has work to do from P3 on the grid at the Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday. But the German four-time world champion felt they can be a lot closer to the Mercedes pair on Sunday. “I think we were missing some speed today in qualifying,” Vettel said after qualifying.
“But I think tomorrow (Sunday), we can be closer to our competitors, so we’ll see. Especially in Q3, in sector 2, they were very fast, while in the first and third sector we were more or less on the pace. Hopefully, tomorrow it can be different. I think during the race we should have a better pace. Winning is always possible, even though here it’s difficult to overtake if your speed is not different to the other cars. So, let’s see what this race can bring and hopefully we can put pressure on our rivals,” he added.
Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who was split by the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, too was of the same view. “It was not an easy qualifying and fifth position is far from ideal,” said Raikkonen.
“The car felt good all day, I had good feelings. In Q1 we did few laps and it was very easy, but then it got tricky with the tires. For whatever reason, I struggled to make them work and trust them on a flying lap. In some runs, they were ok, then in another one it was more difficult.”
james@khaleejtimes.com