Vettel explains “broken” Ferrari F1 car as he starts ninth

An engine-related issue prevented Sebastian Vettel from taking part in the final part of Austrian Grand Prix qualifying, leaving the Ferrari Formula 1 driver ninth on the grid.

Vettel did not emerge for a second run at the end of Q2 and remained garage-bound throughout the shootout for pole position in Q3 as Ferrari mechanics worked frantically to fix an issue on the left-hand side of his SF90.

The German climbed out of his car with minutes to go in the session, with Ferrari confirming Vettel had suffered “a problem with the air pressure line to the engine”.

“Obviously the car was broken, so we couldn’t fire it up and go, so we lost parts of Q2 and then Q3 completely,” Vettel said.

“We fairly quickly made the decision to change, but it’s not so easy to take the bodywork off and get there.

“The guys did everything they could but we couldn’t do it in time.”

Vettel’s frustration was doubled by Ferrari’s competitiveness in Spielberg, with teammate Charles Leclerc storming to pole position by 0.259s ahead of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.

“Obviously it’s frustrating but there’s nothing you can do but it’s nobody’s fault,” he added.

“For sure we need to understand what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again but as I said, it’s nobody’s fault.

“We tried everything to fix it. I knew that if we fixed it, it would only be one run so I was trying to focus solely on that but it didn’t happen.

“At least, as much as a pain it is, it’s also good to see that the other car came through and got the pole.

“I’m happy for the team but obviously not happy for my side. But we’ll have a good race tomorrow.”

Despite failing to set a laptime, Vettel will move up to ninth on the grid once Kevin Magnussen's grid penalty is applied.