• European Grand Prix - FP2

Too early to judge pace - Vettel

ESPN Staff
June 22, 2012 « Frustrated Webber struggling with long run pace | Mercedes progressing with rear degradation - Rosberg »
Sebastian Vettel is not getting carried away with his pace on Friday © Press Association
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Sebastian Vettel says it is too early to gauge the success of Red Bull's updates to the RB8 this weekend, despite setting the fastest time in Friday practice at the European Grand Prix.

Vettel's 1:39.335 was 0.131s faster than Nico Hulkenberg's Force India in second place, but he said Friday's practice sessions were not necessarily a good indication of how the drivers will stack up in qualifying.

"We have some new bits but I think the lap times are not allowing us to have a fair conclusion yet," he said. "For us it was more important to have a clear practice and a clean day for us and I'm quite happy with what we did. The conditions might change quite a bit before Sunday again as it was surprisingly cool today and I think Sunday could be quite a bit hotter. For now I think we've collected some quite good data and we'll see whether we can be competitive."

Vettel has won from pole at Valencia for the last two years, but he said he is expecting a closer fight this year and that strategy for the race is still uncertain.

"I think on Saturday everyone is looking to put the car as high up as possible and ideally on pole and on Sunday, obviously, you want to win the race," he added. "It's really straightforward but it's very close these days and we've seen what can happen with different strategies. It's not entirely clear yet what is the right strategy for Sunday so if we make another step tomorrow and see where we are in terms of pace and competitiveness. We will then be able to make a decision from where we are on Sunday and with the data we will have collected by then."

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