Sebastian Vettel says he and Ferrari had “a bit of hope” after splitting the Mercedes in the middle segment of qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, but knew this would be a tall order to repeat the feat in Q3.
The German slotted into second behind Lewis Hamilton in Q2, three tenths ahead of Nico Rosberg. But while Vettel marginally improved his mark in the final part of the session, both W06s were able to shave a massive chunk off their times to leave the lead Ferrari half a second adrift.
“Q2 gave us a bit of hope,” said Vettel. “But I saw that Nico had a few mistakes, so I knew Q3 it would be difficult to get close.
“We were able to improve from Friday, but today was the optimum for us. I think Sunday could be interesting. I hope to put some pressure on Mercedes and then go for it.”
Despite giving its rivals a run for their money in several races this year, Ferrari has generally struggled to match Mercedes in qualifying, with Singapore being the notable exception.
Asked whether Maranello’s Saturday pace was the number one priority ahead of 2016, Vettel replied:
“What you do in qualifying is just you try and go as fast as possible, so the pace in general that we have is a bit lacking.
“The season is slowly coming to an end and generally looking at the past couple of months, we’ve managed to get closer.
“Of course, from race to race, the gap can vary a bit. But overall, things are heading in the right direction.
“But first of all, we’re looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully we manage to get in front and stay there.”
REPORT: Rosberg takes fifth pole in a row by 0.078s
AS IT HAPPENED: Brazilian Grand Prix - qualifying
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