Sebastian Vettel believes there is no reason to panic despite qualifying only ninth for the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday, feeling the pace of the car has sufficient pace to make gains during the race.
The Scuderia Ferrari driver was unable to make the improvements some of his rivals did during the top-ten shoot-out after placing third in Q2, citing losing time in the final sector as a explanation for some of the deficit to those in front.
“It’s very simple: in Q2 we were third and it was very tight if you look at the lap times,” said Vettel. “In Q3 I was having the same pace, unfortunately I was not able to improve like others, also lost some time at the last corner, and that’s why we’re not in front.
“But I don’t think there’s a reason to panic. For sure we’re not happy, I lost two or maybe three tenths, but tomorrow we should have a decent pace and pretty good straight-line speed to turn things around.
“We have a good car and a strong package for the race. There’s a lot to be done tomorrow, it’s a long race, the starting and first turn will be interesting and there could be some rain at some point. There’s nothing wrong so we’re expecting a progress.”
