Sebastian Vettel was disappointed to be beaten in qualifying by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, believing the Red Bull team had the pace to be on pole position. The world champion was four tenths shy of the Spaniard and wasn't helped by catching his teammate on a hot lap but remains hopeful of challenging for home victory tomorrow.
“The track was best at the end of the session, which is when we got our best times. In these conditions it's extremely difficult, as you can lose the car through the rivers on the track. I lost some time running into Mark at the end of one lap, but it's very difficult in these conditions and you can't see anything in the mirrors. I think we had the pace today to put the car on pole – so we need to look at what Fernando did with his strategy. But it can be a lottery when the weather's like that and fortunately we didn't lose the car, which is good and I'm starting on the front line tomorrow. We are being consistent at the moment, which is the key.”
Mark Webber qualified third but will drop to eighth on the grid after changing his gearbox out of sync but the Australian is confident he has the car to charge through the field tomorrow.
“It was tricky for us and we had dodgy conditions on track. When you know you're getting a five place penalty, it's easy not to get it right but I'm very happy to finish today quite far way up. We did some good laps and got a good result. Fernando stopped for fresh tyres, which maybe we could have done, but should-have, could-have would-have, we got third and that's good – even with the penalty. I'm looking forward to the race and to moving up the grid. We can do a lot from eighth. We've shown the car is strong in all conditions and we will be looking to come through the field.”
