Vettel: Malaysia engine issue 'part of motor racing'

Sebastian Vettel was left downbeat after an engine issue prevented him from setting a lap time during qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix, but said it was "part of motor racing".

After an engine issue in FP3 that forced Ferrari into a rapid engine change on his car, Vettel suffered an issue with his turbocharger while on his outlap in Q1, forcing him to return to the pits immediately.

Ferrari was unable to fix the issue in time to get Vettel back out in Q1, leaving him last on the grid for the start of tomorrow's race at the Sepang International Circuit.

To make matters worse for Vettel, chief title rival Lewis Hamilton took pole position for Mercedes, putting him in a perfect position to extend his 28-point lead in the drivers' championship.

"It's part of motor racing. I didn't do anything today, this afternoon especially so it's not something to feel that much about," Vettel said.

"For sure it's not ideal, it's not what you want, especially on a day when you feel you've got it in you, you've got it in the car. But unfortunately we won't be able to prove that. I hope that Kimi [Raikkonen] will.

"Then we go for tomorrow, we saved some tyres. So there are some positives given that it's a pretty bad day, but the race is tomorrow.

"We need to see now what was the problem, but we managed to do the change successfully in time. We thought we would be late but we made it, so the guys worked a miracle today, worked like crazy."

Vettel felt sorry for his Ferrari crew that had worked rapidly to get his car ready for qualifying, only to suffer a second issue.

"It was like in the Cars movie where there are little Luigis going round. They fixed it up so quickly," Vettel joked.

"So it's a shame we couldn't get out. It's a shame I couldn't get it where it belonged for them."