Vettel boosted by Ferrari qualifying improvement

Sebastian Vettel praised the improvement Ferrari has made on this year's car, after qualifying on the second row of the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix alongside his team mate Kimi Raikkonen.

"Overall, the car was good – we made a big step from yesterday and it felt quite good throughout qualifying.

"It also depends on what others are doing, but we improved the car," he insisted. "We worked on the set-up, springs and bars, and had a look at the downforce levels as well.

"In the end, we ended up pretty similar to yesterday," he added. "Overall there was much more balance in the car and for sector two, which is where all the corners are, if you have a bit more trust and feel in the car, you extract more lap time and go faster.

"Overall, I think its been better this year, right from the start. Even yesterday, when the balance wasn’t great, we were able to improve the car, so it was different.

"I think we learned anyway from last year’s car so it’s a big step forward and so, naturally, you would expect to be faster around here. We put more power on the car as well so both engine and chassis got better and I think that’s why we’re a bit more competitive on that sort of track."

Despite the improvements, Vettel admitted that he wasn't able to match his team mate today.

"I had a bit of a wobble on my last attempt so it wasn’t great as I didn’t put everything together. In that regard, Kimi probably had the upper had in quali but it should be a good race.

"I didnt have as much grip as I was expecting," Vettel added, explaining the final 'wobble' at the end of Q3. "I think I did a good job lining up the last corner, and particularly the exit, trying to be fairly straight and get good traction but, when I went on the power, I had a lot of wheelslip.

"I think everybody’s been struggling, the tyres are getting very hot even if it’s just one lap that they’re getting too hot, and everybody seemed to struggle in the last chicane, some people more, some people less. I was a bit upset as I was expecting more and didnt get the benefit of taking off some speed beforehand to prepare for the exit."

Wobbles aside, Vettel is happy that he and Raikkonen opted to set their fastest lap times in Q2 on soft compound tyres, which is what they will now use at the beginning of the race.

"We both start on the soft compound tomorrow, rather than the supersoft, so we’ll see. I hope it is as close as today – it should be an exciting race.

"It won’t be a race on supersoft tyres, so that’s why we decided to start on the soft," he explained, adding that he had expected Mercedes to be further ahead in Q3 once everyone switched to the supersofts.

"I was a bit surprised that they [Mercedes] weren’t faster on the supersoft but, equally, they didn’t run that much on that tyre this weekend as they didn’t bring so much. We’ll see tomorrow.

"People’s tyre choice is now much clearer, what they have in their bag for the race tomorrow, but what they do with it has to be seen. I think we have a plan – we stuck to starting on the soft tyre and now we’ll take it from there."

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