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Sebastian Vettel says that Ferrari can be relatively happy with its performance in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. The team will line up second and third on the grid for tomorrow's race, with Kimi Raikkonen ahead of his four-time world champion teammate.
It was looking very close between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull right after the first run in Q3, as Lewis Hamilton, Vettel and Max Verstappen were separated by just six-hundredths of a second. However, Hamilton produced a stellar lap to jump six-tenths ahead of the field on his final run.
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Despite the big gap, Vettel says that Ferrari can be happy with the pace shown and that all the focus will now go to getting a satisfying result in the race: "I think we can be happy. Yesterday I wasn’t happy, I didn’t really feel the car. It just kept coming better in qualifying.
"On the last lap I had a bit of a moment into [Turn] 13, I tried to brake really late and it didn’t work. It was really close and it’s exciting for us when it’s that close. It's a shame that Lewis had quite a big gap at the end but I guess his lap was pretty good. Looking forward to tomorrow, I think we improved the car and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.
"It’s very close. We saw yesterday on the long runs that pace is very close. It’s not the easiest place to overtake but who knows. We have an opportunity at the start and the race, so who knows. I’m really happy for the team, it’s a good result. Let’s get going."
Fergal Walsh
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (2)
Login to replyboudy
Posts: 1,168
Can't see how they are happy. Way behind Mercedes and Redbull on level pecking. I wander what effect Haas will have in the race.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Behind Red Bull? I think not. Red Bull had a very strong start this year, which is good, but lets not fool ourselves here. Mercedes and Ferrari are still the teams to beat. Especially if Kimi can get his game up.