Vettel: “It could go one way or the other”

Sebastian Vettel hoisted his Ferrari SF70H on the front row of the starting grid for the Chinese Grand Prix this morning, at the end of a hotly contested qualifying session, and offering perfect symmetry with the top 4 in qualifying from the previous Grand Prix in Australia.

Si Lewis Hamilton signed a new career pole, the quadruple German world champion only managed to take second place by a tiny gap of a thousandth against the W08 of Valtteri Bottas. “We were lucky with Valtteri because when you are separated by a thousandth it could go one way or the other. » specifies Vettel.

A small mistake at the end of the round

Beaten by 186 thousandths by Lewis Hamilton for pole position, Sebastian Vettel believes he has done his best, while conceding a small error in his best lap in Q3. “Of course, I would have liked to be even closer, knowing that the Mercedes would be very strong in Q3, as they proved...

I was happy with my laps, even if I braked a little too early at the start of the last corner, hit the curb quite hard and had to wait for the car to recover. This is where I lost a little time, but that doesn't correspond to the entire gap to Lewis. It would have been difficult to gain even more time. »

Vettel, however, remains satisfied with the behavior of the SF70H on a different track from Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia, where the German broke the Maranello drought.

“This result on a completely different track, with noticeably cooler conditions than Melbourne, is certainly good news. The confidence is there, I trust what the car is sending me and it seems to respond to what I do. It’s a good link, but we need to improve further. »

The Chinese Grand Prix will begin tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. French time, and will be followed live with commentary on our website.