The Infiniti Red Bull Racing duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel locked out the second row of the grid for the Singapore Grand Prix, but while the Australian was happy to qualify third, his German team-mate believed he could have challenged for pole position after a scruffy final lap in qualifying.
Ricciardo was happy to qualify closer to the Mercedes team than he had expected before the weekend began, and feels he could have a genuine shot at fighting for the win with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
”Coming into the weekend we thought that if we could be within two or three tenths of Mercedes then there was a realistic chance to stay with them in the race,” said Ricciardo. “We actually ended up closer to them than we thought in qualifying, so that’s good.
“If the start goes okay then it’s about trying to be smart and doing something with the strategy. If I can get close, then I’ll have a go, I haven’t been shy doing that this year, but it’s difficult on a street circuit. It’s close to home here and it’s nice to see a few Aussie flags in the crowd. Hopefully we can get a podium result for them tomorrow.”
Team-mate Vettel was disappointed with his final lap, and believed he had a shot at pole position for the first time in 2014, but came up short in fourth. He is hoping for a good race, as he feels the car is strong around Marina Bay, and will be hopeful of a fourth consecutive victory at the track after winning in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
“I’m not happy with that final lap, I was pushing a bit too hard and didn’t get it all together, so I’m not entirely happy, but it is what it is now,” said Vettel. “I think pole could have been in our grasp. We’ll hope to have a good race tomorrow, with good pit stops and a good strategy and we’ll see what we can do from there.
“I think we have good speed, but everyone seems to have good speed here. It’s a long race, so we’ll see how the tyres work and what we can do.”
