Sebastian Vettel was satisfied with his attempt in qualifying despite missing out on pole position at the British Grand Prix by less than a half tenth to championship rival Lewis Hamilton.
The Scuderia Ferrari was fastest after the first attempts in the final part of qualifying but Hamilton pipped him on the second runs as Vettel had to settle for second.
Vettel lost time on the straight on his final flying lap and feels pole could have been his.
“Today the gap to Hamilton was only less than half a tenth, so my lap was almost the same as his,” said Vettel. “I was happy with my first attempt in Q3, but then on my last run I lost a lot of time on the straight.
“I don’t know why it happened, otherwise pole would have been there.”
Vettel missed the majority of third practice due to a sore neck but the German believes the pain will be gone for race day.
“However, tomorrow we should be ok in the race,” added Vettel. “Also, the pain in my neck was not nice today, but it should be gone by tomorrow.”
Ferrari were over half a second off pole at Silverstone last year and Vettel feels todays performance shows the step forward the team have made in the past twelve months.
“Even if we couldn’t beat Mercedes today for pole, we made big steps forward as a team, so I wish to congratulate the whole Scuderia because everybody, on track and at home, has done their best,” said the German. “The car is working well and we are faster than last year”.
