- Singapore GP - Qualifying
Beating Mercedes to pole was possible - Vettel
Sebastian Vettel felt pole position was within his reach at the Singapore Grand Prix had it not been for a series of small mistakes on his qualifying lap.
Vettel was fourth fastest and 0.221s off pole position in one of the closest qualifying sessions of the year. He admitted to a series of mistakes through the second sector, which he said mounted up to the gap to Lewis Hamilton on pole position.
"In sector two in Turn 11 and 12 [I made small mistakes] and then in 13 as a consequence," he explained. "Then I had a little bit of a moment through 16 and 17 which meant it was never going to be great in 18 and 19 and out of 21. It's small things but it adds up and you never get the grip that you were looking for in the first place. How much is difficult to say but I lost some time compared to a used set [of tyres] in those corners. I don't know how happy other people were with their laps, but I think pole was manageable today."
Vettel said he was still struggling to get the most out of his car this year and at times is being forced to drive short of his capabilities.
"It's not yet doing what I want to do. I want to obviously push and make something happen, but it just doesn't. It's a characteristic of this year's car, in combination with the downforce we have and this year's tyres.
"It just maybe doesn't give me what I want in a certain area of the corner. It's not an excuse because in the end I have to get the best out of the car, but we've done a lot of progress but there's still a lot I can do better.
"You drive the way you think is quickest, but whether that means you have to hold back or push depends on the situation. It's not that straightforward this year and it's not always consistent, so that's the tricky bit. But I could have done a better job by getting a better lap together, so I can't be happy with that. Definitely if you look at raw lap time I should have been higher up."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
