2
Sebastian Vettel says there are "no excuses" for his gap to pole position on Saturday at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The German will line-up in second place for the start of Sunday's race, behind teammate Charles Leclerc, who managed to take pole position by over seven-tenths of a second.
The runs in Q3 saw traffic stack up in the final sector as drivers jostled for position, with Vettel being overtaken at the final corner by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, who ended the session in third.
Despite the traffic problems, Vettel says there must be no excuses for him as he goes in search of his first victory in 12 months.
"In the end, it's good that we secured the first row," Vettel said. "To fight for pole... I was sort of in the queue and that didn't help. But there are no excuses.
"There's good pace in the car so hopefully we can show it over the 44 laps," he added.
With lower temperatures expected for the race on Sunday, Vettel is not expecting such a scenario to impact the car, as it will be the same situation for everybody.
"It should be better, the car felt better today," he said. "The temperatures should drop overnight, which makes a difference, but it's the same for everyone."
Teammate Charles Leclerc admits that his first sector was far from ideal, but he managed to hook the lap up in the following two sectors to take his third career pole.
"It felt good. The first sector wasn't what I wanted, especially the first corner," said the Monegasque driver. "We had to go very slow throughout the lap because there was a lot of traffic. But after that from the second corner onwards, we were very strong and it felt amazing."
Leclerc didn't get caught up in the tussle for track position at the end of the session, which is something he says he worked to avoid, as he didn't want a slipstream.
"That's what I asked in the garage, I didn't really care about a slipstream. It was just too much of a mess to prepare the tyres and the lap overall, and it worked out, so I'm happy."
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
279,217 comments on Aston Martin
59 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Sebastian Vettel
467,188 comments on Ferrari 271 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Ferrari
G. Zhou
Replies (2)
Login to replyf1ski
Posts: 726
His excuse is age. Lewis in a lesser car would possibly show the effects of time as well.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Age is hardly an excuse. Especially for Vettel. He should be in his prime. Regarding Lewis there is hardly any evidence that he is driving any worse than he was in 2014 at age 30. If anything, he seems less susceptible to bullshit that made him have pathetic weekends. No, I think we are actually witnessing Seb dwindling. Slowly. But Charles has been faster than him several times this year already