Vettel Q3 Run Risky with Front Row Secure

When Vettel went for his Q3 run, he threw caution into the wind. He was aware that he was starting on the front row anyway. Despite this revelation he pushed hard. Sebastian admitted that he was gunning for pole position, which was why the risk was greater. But he also said that he went into the run knowing that a front row start was safe. Vettel was not worried about Valtteri Bottas finishing ahead of him on track.

The German said “Qualifying has been quite good to be honest. I tried everything on the last run, I knew I had to take a bit more risk. It didn’t work, I ran out of track at the exit of the Esses. But I knew that even if Valtteri got past I would still be [on the] front row. I would have loved to have been quicker, but it’s quite amazing with the new car around here, it’s a special day.”

Raikkonen’s Q3

Meanwhile, Räikkönen was left to rue a disrupted day. He crashed during the final practice session, sustaining a five-place grid drop for a gearbox change. The Finn went wide on his first Q3 lap and ended up sixth. The 2007 World Champion will drop to 11th place on the grid. But Alonso’s penalty will promote him to 10th.

Raikkonen said “Obviously [we] paid the price for the mistakes made today. We had to change the gearbox, so it was far from ideal to prepare for qualifying, especially after yesterday’s little running, but this is what we got.”

Räikkönen said that his qualifying run felt okay but he made a mistake on the first run in last qualifying. From then on, it was a pretty average lap time in the second [run]. Things got a bit trickier after the mistake. Raikkonen continued, “Obviously it’s not where we should be, [it’s the] consequences of missing [time] and crashing in the wrong moment of the weekend.”