Sebastian Vettel says Scuderia Ferrari could have performed better in qualifying for the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix, but still wouldn’t have beaten Mercedes-AMG Motorsport to the front row.
Despite having a significant straight-line speed advantage over the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, Vettel only managed to qualify third, three tenths-of-a-second adrift of pole-sitter Bottas.
“We could have done a bit better today but probably not enough to really beat our rivals for pole,” said Vettel. “It could have been worse, but I am not entirely happy.
“We started off well, but then our competitors had more pace over the single lap in terms of pure performance.”
For the race, Vettel is more confident that Ferrari can take the fight to rivals Mercedes.
“We should have a good car tomorrow though and hopefully we can show it throughout the whole 56 laps. It’s a long race and I expect it to be a very tight one too.
“Making the right strategy choices will be important; we must make the right call at the right time and see where that takes us. I am not sure everyone understands how many variables have to be taken into account.
“The top drivers are all starting on Medium tyres and we will see if that turns out to be the right choice. I believe anything can happen.”
