Vettel takes blame “with little mistakes” for pace drop

Sebastian Vettel has shouldered the blame for seeing his Friday practice pace end off of his front-running rivals in Baku ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver ended the second free practice session down in 11^th place after locking up his front tyres under braking during his qualifying simulation which left him 1.3 seconds behind timesheet topper Daniel Ricciardo.

But Vettel shrugged off his poor time and felt content with his pace on the long runs during practice at the Baku City Circuit while accepting his mistakes cost him an eye-catching time during fast runs on the Ultrasoft tyres.

“It’s all on me and I think the car is fine,” Vettel said. “I didn’t get the laps together and it can happen very easily here with little mistakes in braking. The long run was a lot better and I think we can improve the car tomorrow and we should be OK.

“It is a tricky track, but it’s tricky for all of us. I think I struggled a little bit more than the others but I’m not too worried. Towards the end I had a good read of the situation and I think we can improve tomorrow. It’s a little bit tricky to find a rhythm.

“This morning and at the start of the second session I didn’t find it and I wasn’t up to speed but I was pretty happy with the long run at the end. It was okay.”

Vettel will be eager to strengthen his Formula 1 world championship lead in Azerbaijan after seeing his advantage cut down to nine points by Lewis Hamilton last time out at the Chinese Grand Prix after clashing with Max Verstappen.