Rain at the Hungaroring completely spoiled Ferrari and Vettel’s party as the Scuderia emerged slower than both Mercedes cars. To make matters worse, arch-rival Lewis Hamilton took pole at a track where they were expected to lag behind.
Vettel admitted that they could just not be quick enough in the changeable conditions. “In wet conditions, we are not as confident as in the dry so there is some work to do”, said the German.
“I think it was difficult in the wet and difficult to squeeze everything out of the car. I think the laps that I had were fine but just not quick enough. In the dry, we were pretty much in control.”
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“I don’t think there was an awful lot missing but we were not quicker enough. It wasn’t dry this afternoon, so it wasn’t meant to be. I think we managed it well until the end, we were missing a bit, but that’s how it is.”
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The fact that the Ferrari no.5 topped the second and third practice sessions is bound to exasperate them even more as a sure-shot chance for grabbing loomed, especially at a time when he is trailing in the championship.
But Vettel was not too worried as it was only the Saturday and the actual race was yet to come. “We will see tomorrow, obviously the race is long, so we will see what we can do”, the Ferrari driver said.
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Vettel’s performance in wet conditions is not much to brag about as apart from the iconic Monza race in 2008, where took an unlikely pole for Toro Rosso, he hasn’t really delivered.
The best example of that was last weekend when at his home race, he crashed out almost as soon as it started raining, despite leading comfortably. He made an uncharacteristic error, locking up a tiny bit going into the chicane, where he lost his car.