• Japanese Grand Prix - Qualifying

Vettel refuses to blame KERS for missing pole

Sebastian Vettel: "I'm not a big fan of 'without this', 'with this', 'if this'" © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Japanese Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Sebastian Vettel

• Teams:
• Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel refused to blame his KERS problem in qualifying for missing out on pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Vettel still managed to qualify second but was beaten to the top spot by 0.174s by Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber. He was told to shut down his KERS in Q3 after also experiencing a problem in the final practice session, but still claimed a place on the front row of the grid.

"Obviously we had a problem this morning [in practice] but I don't think that hurt us when trying to find a rhythm; we've done plenty of laps around this track," he said. "Congratulations to Mark, he did a very good lap. We did have an issue in qualifying, but I'm not a big fan of 'without this', 'with this', 'if this' etcetera. It's always unknown and the fact is that we are P2.

"I'm happy with the result - a front row for the team, which is great. The car was phenomenal today. In the first sector, I think you realise afterwards, that the car was fantastic through there and you don't get many days like that where the car feels great and you can really push it to the limit. I enjoyed qualifying and I'm happy with second place."

Vettel made a mistake on the exit of Spoon corner on his first lap but more or less nailed his second lap.

"I kept it on the track, obviously tried hard, and on the first attempt a little too hard, but on the second attempt I managed to stay on track," he said. "On the first attempt I lost time all down the straight [after Spoon] and on the second attempt I was a little more conservative but gained on the straight, so it was a net gain. We were all pushing on the limit today and with the wind it was quite tricky, with some gusts here and there. In the end we were pushing and mistakes happen."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.