Vettel: “No illusions for the front row” in Austria

Sebastian Vettel came close to being punished during the first day of testing at the Austrian Grand Prix when he spun on the starting straight and narrowly missed hitting the rail. However, the German's pace was worrying as he was 1"7 off the reference time before returning to 1"2 in the afternoon after switching to super soft tyres.

“It was a Friday morning and we were testing different things but the settings of the car are much more complicated to put in place this year”, comments the four-time world champion. “I went off the track into the grass which was still wet. My teammate (Daniel Ricciardo) and I were both struggling but we were able to make progress and p.m. We still have to see if we should keep our upgrades because our cars are better in warmer weather, that should work to our advantage. We have no illusions about the first row but it is impossible to make predictions beyond that because we have no reference on this circuit. We should improve our performance (today). I hope so because we want to shine here. »

Sebastian Vettel will also be looking to get a good result in order to give a reply to his teammate Daniel Ricciardo who is surpassing him this season and who has just won his first Grand Prix victory in Montreal. The German does not want to show the slightest sign of frustration. “It’s no secret that this season is far from easy for me. We had many difficulties but we still made superb progress compared to where we were during winter testing. He didn't give me any more difficulty than my other teammates. It is true that he is in front of me most of the time, and it was me who was often in front of Mark (Webber) in previous years, but we cannot draw conclusions because each race is a different story. He's doing a good job, there's no doubt about it. He had the ability to make the most of his car from the first race and I had difficulty crossing on my side. It's a good thing the other half is doing well. »