Vettel 'very happy' to secure first top-ten start of 2022

Sebastian Vettel will start his Monaco Grand Prix among the top-ten after securing on Saturday his best qualifying result of the season.

Vettel successfully navigated the first two segments of the all-important session while his best lap in Q3 will see the Aston Martin charger line up ninth on Sunday's grid.

"Overall, we’re very happy," he said. "We got into Q3 and had a really good lap in Q2.

"In Q3, the first run was good so I think we are happy. To have the red flag at the end – I don’t want to say it was kind of expected, but obviously highly likely here."

Like several of his colleagues, Vettel's final effort in Q3 was cut short by Sergio Perez's crash at Portier in the dying seconds of qualifying.

The weather forecast for Sunday afternoon's proceedings is still uncertain, but a chance of rain remains on the cards.

"If it’s a normal dry race, it’s good to be in the position we are in, as we’re starting in the points and then we will see," added Vettel. "I think with tyres, it will be difficult to manage.

"We will see what type of race we will have in our hands tomorrow and have just got to make sure we are sharp. If it rains, [we have got] to make the right calls."

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Contrary to his Aston teammate, Lance Stroll wasn't happy with how his qualifying session had panned out in the Principality and justifiably so as the Canadian, who will start his race P18, was knocked out as early as Q1.

"We were half a second up, looking really good at the end of Q1, and had a snap in Turn 14, lost the rear, locked up, aborted the lap and that was it," said a frustrated Stroll.

"It’s a real shame, we were easily going through – we had great pace today."

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