Vettel: No pattern stands out on qualifying deficit to Leclerc

Sebastian Vettel says he’s seen no outright pattern to his qualifying deficit to Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc after being out-qualified by the Monegasque for the ninth consecutive race.

The Ferrari driver will start the Russian Grand Prix in third place at the Sochi Autodromo as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton split him to teammate Leclerc who recorded a fourth consecutive pole position – the first time a Ferrari has achieved that feat since Michael Schumacher who completed it across the 2000-2001 seasons.

With just one pole position to his name all season, coming at the Canadian Grand Prix, Vettel accepts Leclerc has just been quicker over a single flying lap in recent races but feels they are more closely matched on race pace.

“In qualifying here and there we didn’t have the best sessions on my side,” Vettel said. “I think obviously today Charles was faster, pretty easy to see where he was faster, it’s a little bit here and there, I don’t think there’s any pattern standing out saying he’s faster in the same type of corner.

“I think the last races were closer than it showed on result. We will see what happens tomorrow.

“Usually, come race day, I’m getting more and more confident in the car and have had the pace has never been a problem in the race so we’ll see what happens.

“I was pretty happy with the car, I just felt there was more in the car I couldn’t get to.”

After a breakthrough win last time out in Singapore, Vettel remains wary of the threat both Mercedes drivers pose starting on the harder tyres compared to the Ferrari pair who will start on the soft tyres, with race strategy expected to play a key role.

“The last race was difficult to pass, I think Mercedes was faster than us in the race, so we’ll see tomorrow with strategies.

“I think tomorrow is a long race, we have good pace for the race, it will be very interesting with Mercedes, who are on different tyres to start with, so let’s see what happens.”