Q1 exit not related to Ferrari upgrades – Vettel

Sebastian Vettel believes his premature exit in Saturday’s qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix is not linked to the upgraded power unit Ferrari has brought to Montreal this weekend.

The four-time world champion hit trouble as soon as he left his box in the early stages of Q1, with his team reporting an MGU-H issue on his SF15-T. Vettel then drove back to the pits and only re-emerged in the final minutes of the session.

Although the German was able to complete two flying laps, he did not have enough pace to knock Fernando Alonso’s McLaren-Honda off P15 and eventually failed to make the Q2 cut for the first time this year.

“[The issue started] right when we left for quali,” Vettel told the BBC. “As soon as we went out for the first run, we did not have the power. We tried everything to get it back but we could not.

Asked whether his technical woe was related to the new power unit Ferrari has introduced after using their first three development tokens, Vettel was quick to dismiss the hypothesis.

“I don’t think so. I just heard something when I left the garage. I can’t really confirm but it does not have anything to do with the engine. It’s more on the electronics front.”

On the other side of the Ferrari garage, team-mate Kimi Raikkonen secured his best qualifying result since he returned to Maranello. The Finn will line up third on tomorrow's grid behind the two Mercedes of pole sitter Lewis Hamilton and second-placed Nico Rosberg.

Click here for Saturday's gallery from the Canadian Grand Prix

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