Sebastian Vettel was disappointed to miss out on a Q3 appearance in his final visit to the Autódromo José Carlos Pace on Friday, with the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team racer finding himself only thirteenth on the grid for Saturday’s Sprint race.
The German, who will retire from the FIA Formula 1 World Championship at the end of the season, set a time good enough for the top ten towards the end of the session only for others to also find more time on their final runs to relegate him down the order.
Despite the disappointment of Qualifying, Vettel feels there is a lot to play for still this weekend in Brazil as he looks to end his career on a high.
“I always like these conditions,” said Vettel. “It was slippery out there, and very tricky to correctly judge the weather.
“We missed out on getting through to Q3 by a tenth – maybe even a bit less – which makes you think about where you could have made up that time.
“But, to be honest, I was pretty happy with the lap – then it started to drizzle, so maybe the timing was not ideal. It is a shame because I thought we could have got through today.
“There is lots to play for tomorrow and on Sunday.”
“I do not think we had the pace in qualifying” – Lance Stroll
Team-mate Lance Stroll also fell at the second hurdle, the Canadian making a mistake at the first corner on his final flying lap to end his chance of advancing.
Stroll did not feel the car had the pace to challenge for the top ten in Qualifying trim, but he believes they can move up the field and fight for the top ten in both Saturday’s Sprint race and Sunday’s main event at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace.
“It was a difficult session all around today,” said Stroll. “I do not think we had the pace in qualifying, so we need to look into why that was.
“We will see what we can do tomorrow in the Sprint and again in the Grand Prix on Sunday. The weather is expected to be a bit up and down all weekend, so there should be plenty of opportunities to make some overtakes and pick up some points.”
