Sebastian Vettel pulled a lap out of the bag when it mattered during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, with the German jumping up onto the front row in the closing stages of the session.
The Scuderia Ferrari driver had appeared to be off the pace, with the two Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen seemingly having the better runs early on, but Vettel was able to get ahead of both Valtteri Bottas and Raikkonen to join Lewis Hamilton on the front row.
Vettel admitted he felt positive with the feeling of his car during the first two sessions, and it was only the final segment that he pushed to the limit, and as such made the jump up the order, and is now hoping for a strong race on Sunday.
“I had a very good feeling already in Q1,” said Vettel. “During Q2, the main task was to get through and then in Q3 I was just about OK with the first run, but struggling a bit.
“However, my last run was better. I am happy with today’s result. I think we achieved something that some people didn’t expect from us. The pace was very good and I am really looking forward to tomorrow.
“It will be a long race with a lot of laps and a long track where more or less everyone has had problems with the tyres during the weekend.”
