Sebastian Vettel admits he and Ferrari “misjudged the situation” in Q1, which resulted in a surprise exit in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Having finished less than half a tenth off Lewis Hamilton in FP3, the German entered the evening session as Mercedes’ nearest rival only to drop out of the opening segment when late improvements from Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Sauber's Felipe Nasr bumped him down to 16th.
“Nothing dramatic happened, there was nothing wrong with the car, but of course the plan was not to go out straight away in Q1…” Vettel said.
“We thought the lap time we had done with the softs was enough but, in the end, it turned out it wasn’t. We misjudged the situation and then, unfortunately, we went out.
“We try every weekend to do our best and obviously this weekend we didn’t get it right. It’s a small mistake with a big consequence.”
Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was on the same tyre strategy but managed to clock the seventh fastest time and advance to Q2 before eventually qualifying third.
“He was quicker, so in the end I should have done a quicker lap,” Vettel replied when asked whether he had had any issue on his flyer. “We could have made it, but as I said we thought it was enough in that moment, but it wasn’t.
“Obviously it was quite costly, but we know what happened and now we need to start the race from further back. That’s what happened.
“It was a good thing Kimi could get P3, because we’ve been strong all weekend, but for tomorrow it’s possible to overtake here.”
Despite being the most successful driver in Abu Dhabi, the Ferrari ace is also quite familiar with starting from the back at Yas Marina Circuit, having been excluded from qualifying in both 2012 and 2014. Vettel hopes he can repeat the sort of performances that saw him recover to third and eighth respectively those years.
“There are a lot of cars that are ahead of us that shouldn’t be ahead of us, so it’s up to us to turn it around.
“We have the speed, but how much we can recover we can only see tomorrow. I’m looking forward to do a lot of overtaking.
“I’m not starting as far back as I did a few years ago, so it should be easier than it was back then to recover positions. It should be a fun race.”
REPORT: Rosberg continues qualifying run with Abu Dhabi pole
AS IT HAPPENED: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Qualifying
Between the lines at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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