Sebastian Vettel's stunt in Melbourne

Sebastian Vettel did not expect such a result at the end of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. If Daniel Ricciardo was able to place his RB10 on the front line between the two Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton et Nico Rosberg, the four-time world champion did not even manage to secure a place in Q3. The German failed in 13th position after suffering from software problems on his car, but will start from 12th place taking advantage of the penalty of Valtteri Bottas.

If the pilot Red Bull can hope to catch up in the race, the disappointment is all the more difficult to hide for the reigning world champion after the performance of his new teammate. “It’s disappointing because the car seemed very competitive the day before”, declared Sebastian Vettel who had not experienced such a result since the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. “I struggled a bit more, especially when the conditions were wet. I immediately had difficulty with the behavior of the car. I couldn't control it. »

Sebastian Vettel can at least be satisfied to see Red Bull in better shape than expected at the end of winter testing where the Milton Keynes team suffered from a lack of running. “We made big progress with the car, but I’m obviously not happy with what we did in Q3. I think the car is fast even though we struggled this afternoon. Daniel did a very good job to get to the front of the grid and I congratulate him. The race will be long tomorrow (58 laps) and reliability will be essential to reach the finish, but I think we will have plenty of opportunities to seize. »

The Australian Grand Prix will be contested from 7 a.m. French time and can be followed live on AUTOhebdo.fr. Photos from the weekend can be found on this link.