• Japanese Grand Prix - Qualifying

RB8 'feels fantastic' - Vettel

ESPN Staff
October 6, 2012 « Telmex to continue as Sauber sponsor | Front row lockout a 'great tonic' for Red Bull - Webber »
Sebastian Vettel said Red Bull was able to improve the car ahead of each session this weekend © Sutton Images
Enlarge
Related Links

Sebastian Vettel described his car as "fantastic" after securing pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix.

It's the fourth consecutive year that Vettel has been on pole at Suzuka and maintains his record of qualifying on pole every time he has raced there in Formula One. Despite his own personal performance, Vettel praised the team for improving the car ahead of each session and said Red Bull was able to execute a "nearly perfect" qualifying.

"I'm very happy with today's result. I think we had a very smooth qualifying session, nearly perfect so we couldn't really ask for more," Vettel said. "The car felt fantastic from the start; we didn't have the best start to the weekend, yesterday morning I wasn't very happy but then we seem to get it better every time we go out. So I'm very pleased with the result and very happy that the car feels fantastic around here. I was able to pick up a little bit overnight so all in all I think it came together nicely and now obviously we hope for a very good race tomorrow."

Vettel also said he was confident the Red Bull pace would continue in to the race, but said he was aware that the race could still be unpredictable.

"Obviously we didn't finish the run in Q3 so saved a little bit there, saved a lap and didn't push until the end. Before that we had a very smooth session in qualifying in general so we saved as many tyres as we can. I think we have a pretty good car, the balance felt very good in qualifying so I was very happy with the laps I had every time.

"All in all I think we should have a good race car as well tomorrow, we were able to improve the car from yesterday to today which also helps us on the long run and tyre consumption. But you never know until you find out, I think we've seen a lot of races this year when we've expected something and people expected something, other teams had expectations but in the last ten laps everything's turned around so we have to stay focused and see what we get from start to finish."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
ESPN Staff Close