Vettel surprised by gap to Mercedes in Russia qualifying

Sebastian Vettel conceded he was surprised by the half a second gap between Mercedes and Ferrari after losing out to Formula 1 title rival Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the Russian Grand Prix on Saturday.

2017 Russia pole-sitter Vettel could only muster third place on the grid in qualifying for Ferrari at the Sochi Autodrom as Mercedes swept to a front row lock-out, with Valtteri Bottas finishing more than half a second clear of Vettel in P1.

Hamilton will line up second on the grid as he looks to extend his 40 point lead over Vettel in the drivers’ championship.

Vettel said he felt that Ferrari had maximised its potential in qualifying, leaving the German surprised by the margin to Mercedes at the front.

“We go racing and you never know what is going to happen. I was joking with Valtteri that he should remember what happened last year when he was third and I was on pole,” Vettel said, referring to when Bottas passed him on the run to Turn 2 at the start in 2017.

“But you never know, it depends on the start and so many things. We will go racing and try to do our best.

“It’s been a bit of a tricky one for us, we didn’t have the pace and quite a big gap, which was a surprise for us, but we will see how we get on tomorrow.”

Vettel was unable to pinpoint any issues or deficiencies with the Ferrari car that may have caused him to lose time to the Mercedes drivers, feeling his pace peaked in the final stage of qualifying.

“I was pretty happy, I think the car was working, the balance was pretty good. I think it peaked in Q3 just the way it should,” Vettel said.

“I think we got everything we could but I had a tiny mistake because I knew I had half a second to find and not just a couple of hundredths. So we should have been two-tenths up on the last lap.

“But I am pretty happy with the car and it’s not like there is a big issue with car balance. I think we reached our full potential today.”