Sebastian Vettel admits Ferrari was left surprised by its lack of pace during qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Having been competitive throughout the practice sessions - with Vettel with 0.15s of pacesetter Nico Rosberg in FP3 - Ferrari struggled in qualifying and could only qualify on the third row. Vettel will start from sixth, one place behind team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, and the German admits the gap of over a second to Mercedes was unexpected.
“I don’t think it was a general lack of speed," Vettel said. "I think we proved in all the sessions so far that we are quite competitive, so it was as a surprise to us as it was to you.
"We don’t yet understand but I’m sure there is a reason for it. Yes the conditions changed but I think that something made us fall out of the window and we lost quite a lot of competitiveness in comparison.”
With Red Bull locking out the second row ahead of Ferrari, Vettel insists the result is due to circumstances rather than raw pace.
“Well today they were [quicker] yes, I don’t think they are in general, I think we are quicker than them but for sure today in these circumstances yes we didn’t have a great day.
"I think, as I tried to explain, it was more us not performing than Mercedes or Red Bull being better. Also if you look behind people weren’t closer to us than in practice.”
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