Vettel refrains from criticizing his team after a failed qualification

The slogan “Mission Winnow” (Mission Win Now) was of no help during the World Cup qualifiers. Team Ferrari on Saturday at Suzuka (Japan). If Kimi Räikkönen limited the damage with the fourth time, Sebastian Vettel only achieved the ninth time. The German will leave on Sunday from eighth place after the penalty imposed on Esteban Ocon (Racing Point Force India).

A Saturday truly unworthy of a team wanting to make life difficult for Mercedes. In question, a poorly managed Q3, both by the Reds' strategists and by its star driver. While the rain disrupted the final minutes of Q2, the Italian team decided to give intermediate tires to its two fighters.

Except that in the meantime, the track had had time to dry, restoring enough grip to the super soft tires (used by the other drivers). After a useless installation lap, the Ferraris put the slicks back on.

It's there that Sebastian Vettel made a driving error in the Spoon double curve, at the end of the track. Having gone offshore, the German had lost the opportunity to imitate his teammate Kimi Räikkönen and aim for the first places. Under pressure, he tried to catch up with another all-out throw, but the rain came back to interrupt his attempt!

Grip was a luxury some couldn't afford in Q3 #JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/rtkFQGIMcG

— Formula 1 (@F1) 6th October, 2018

In a sullen mood in the paddock, the four-time world champion initially refused to face reality. “I think you saw what happened. It was pretty obvious, you know as well as I do what happened. »

Relaunched by the journalists, Sebastian Vettel finally delivered his analysis. “We were expecting more rain in Q3. Obviously that didn't happen, so it was the wrong choice. With these kinds of conditions, you either have everything right or you screw up. I don't blame anyone. »

What about the driving error at Spoon? “We lost a little time at the start of Q3 (with pit stop), I lost the car and it was the only lap I could do. That didn't help. »

Became a specialist in the Coué method since its abandonment in Germany at the end of July, Sebastian Vettel estimated that they would have “could have worked a miracle if the rain had fallen five to seven minutes earlier”, because they were then the only ones to run on tires suitable for wet roads.

However, it will take more than suitable tires to be able to worry the leader in the general classification Lewis Hamilton during the race (start Sunday at 7:10 a.m. French time to follow on AUTOhebdo.fr).