Sebastian Vettel admitted that he had been forced to the very limits in order to claim pole position for Sunday's Mexico Grand Prix.
Vettel set a new track record time of 1:16.488s at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Saturday's qualifying session. It was just enough to depose an impressive Max Verstappen from pole position.
"He was very quick in Q2," Vettel admitted afterwards. "Then he goes four tenths quicker than anybody else [in Q3]. So I thought, how do I do that?
"I don't know where he pulled that from. We had to stretch all of us.
"Yesterday wasn't that good for us in all honesty but I think overnight we improved," he continued. "We had a lot of things we worked on and changed, and they all worked.
"It's very difficult here, it's very slippery and difficult to get everything in one lap," he explained. " The altitude has an effect on the asphalt and its ageing and it makes it slippery.
"I had a little bit in the first sector and I managed to get that right, so it was a good start.
"Then I had a bit of moment in turn 6 and nearly lost it there. Had to go down to first gear, but didn't lose any time.
"I knew in the last sector that if I could just keep it clean across the line it should be enough - and it was!" he added. "It was quite a lap, I have to say.
"After the line I knew it would be close. I didn't know what the others were doing. When I heard it was enough it was like an explosion in the car. I had one yesterday with the extinguisher – but today was a real one!
"Now I'm really happy. Tomorrow we'll see what happens, but the race pace should be good.
The pole is a crucial one for Vettel, who desperately needs a win this weekend to keep his championship alive.
"We have to maximise every session, whether it's practice or qualifying," he commented. "Obviously today is really important and tomorrow we'll see."
Even if he wins, Hamilton could clinch the title tomorrow just by finishing in the top five.
"It's not as much in my control as I would like it to be," Vettel concurred. "It depends what Lewis is doing.
"We do our race and there is not much point in looking at what others are doing. The position we are in, we need to maximise our pace.
"For us we go all out. We attack and see what we can do. We deserve a good result, Ferrari deserves a good result, so let's see what we can do tomorrow.
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