F1 Qualifying Analysis: How Vettel gave his rivals a timely reminder

It’s the hope that kills you.

That’s what Ferrari fans – and, frankly, neutrals eager to see an end to Mercedes’ recent domination of Formula 1 – would have been thinking heading into qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday.

Even with Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc finishing one-two in both FP2 and FP3 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve; even with Mercedes’ minor slip-ups this weekend; even with a mighty Sector 3 pace that laid its straight-line speed advantage clear – surely normal service would resume come qualifying. Mercedes out front. Again.

And it was going that way when Lewis Hamilton sat on provisional pole after the first set of runs in Q3, two-tenths up on Vettel at the front, bound for a record-breaking seventh pole in Canada.

But things turned around as we were treated to a thrilling conclusion to the best qualifying session of the year so far; a proper fight between two teams and two champions.

Hamilton was able to improve on his final lap despite a lock-up at the hairpin which cost him some time, only for Vettel to dig deep and, thanks to a mighty final sector that saw Ferrari’s power unit flex its muscles, wrestle pole away.

It was his first since last year’s German Grand Prix, 17 races ago – and arguably where the 2018 championship was lost.

The enormity of the result was clear from the moment Vettel received the news from his race engineer.

“Wooooo hoo-hoo-hoo!” he cried. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Bada bada ba ba ba bi! Oooooh, I feel great man!”

He’s been known for his wacky and exuberant celebrations in the past – such as trying to make the Crazy Frog a thing again about 10 years after its moment – but this had a feeling of something very different. At last, after months of struggles, questions and the same rhetoric about Ferrari’s bid to improve, refusal to give up on this year, blah blah blah – he now had the result to back it all up.

Vettel looked relieved when he hopped out of the car on the grid to begin the post-session interviews, immediately turning to Hamilton to his right. “He’s bloody good in qualifying,” Vettel said. “Hard to crack.” Even on a day that Ferrari appeared to have such a pace advantage, Hamilton had come mighty close to topping qualifying all the same…

Today’s qualifying was really the first time all year Mercedes had properly slipped up. Hamilton had made his minor error, while teammate Valtteri Bottas ruined his first Q3 run with a spin before a scruffy second effort left him a lowly P6 on the grid, trailing both Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly.

Ferrari almost maximised its potential, with a struggle to build-up his pace to Q3 leaving Charles Leclerc six-tenths of a second back from his teammate in third place on the grid. The hype may be around the young Monegasque at Ferrari, yet this was a clear example of Vettel’s experience shining through; a reminder of why he is Ferrari’s best bet for the title this year.

Vettel’s buzzing mood carried through much of the post-qualifying press briefings. At one point, he accidentally called Hamilton “handsome” instead of “handy”, before later asking a journalist if he worked for Pirelli when he said his publication was “graining”.

It was a feeling of the old Seb that we saw in the back-end of both 2011 and 2013, and, to some extent, the early part of last year. Irrepressible. A reminder of what Vettel is like when he is at the very top of his game.

It may only be qualifying, but the significance of this result later in the year could be huge. This is the first time this year Vettel has delivered on the promise Ferrari showed through pre-season, offering a first breath of life into his failing championship hopes.

“The last couple of races have been quite tough, so coming here and showing the stronger form than we have had in the last races was positive,” Vettel said.

“I’m still full of adrenaline. I’m really happy, I really enjoyed it. I wish I could do it again, just for the fun of it. I had to pace myself a bit in the first two corners as getting the tyres to grip up wasn’t straight forward. But after that, it was a joy. The car was shouting ‘keep going, keep going!’ I really enjoyed it.”

Asked if this could be the turning point for Ferrari, Vettel remained coy, joking he was “not a fortune teller”.

“Maybe. If you come to Abu Dhabi and ask if this was the turning point, I hope I can give you a yes,” he said.

“It’s a long season, lots of different tracks, different challenges, we know we need to catch up.

“We had more top speed in all tracks so far. This is a track where top speed is more relevant, not too many corners. We’ll see.

“The whole of Maranello is throwing everything at it to try and give us a better car and make it better races to come.”

Ferrari was in dire need of a boost this year – and it has come from the driver everyone appeared to have already written off in 2019.