Vettel “not worried” about qualifying after scruffy day

2016 Monaco Grand Prix

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Sebastian Vettel said he isn’t concerned about Ferrari’s prospects for qualifying despite the team languishing well off the pace.

Despite damaging his car twice due to mistakes during the second practice session Vettel set the team’s quickest time of the day but was over 1.3 seconds slower than Daniel Ricciardo’s pace-setting Red Bull.

“It was not a ‘clean’ day in the office today,” Vettel admitted. “Our session was a bit scrappy. I touched the wall, damaged the rear wing, but luckily we were able to fix it and carry on.”

Vettel believes there is more performance to be had from the SF16-H.

“I just didn’t get everything out of the car, couldn’t find the rhythm and didn’t do good laps on the ultra-soft tyres,” he said. “If you look at the standings, we don’t belong where we scored today.”

“But overall the car is good and has the pace. So I am not worried for Saturday. Today our focus was not towards ranking high up, we tried a couple of things and it is fair to say that some of them didn’t work.”

As well as both Red Bulls and Mercedes, Vettel was also out-paced by Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso. “Being the first practice day it is also difficult to see what other people did,” Vettel added.

2016 Monaco Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    13 comments on “Vettel “not worried” about qualifying after scruffy day”

    1. Only explanation for Ferrari’s poor pace in P2 would be that they were trying to place the visor tear-offs inside the cockpit at various points in their lap.

      Hence Vettel’s spin and thud and Kimi’s general lack of pace :)

      Very worrying for Ferrari.

    2. I think he should be worried. I am noticing a pattern here. The Ferrari seems to work fine in the morning sessions but struggles in the afternoons. In Barcelona, they were fine in FP3 but struggled in qualifying. Today, they were fine in FP1 but struggled in FP2. In China as well, they topped FP3 but only third in the afternoon session of qualifying.

      I think the car has a narrow sweet spot, very weather or temperature dependent. At this rate, maintaining second in the championship may be difficult as it seems that Red Bull is the second fastest car out there.

      1. Maybe the battery in his smartphone runs flat during the morning practice and doesn’t get a chance to recharge before the afternoon practice.

      2. MG421982 (@)
        26th May 2016, 20:11

        RBR outperformed Ferrari in only 1 race so far and suddenly… 2nd fastest car on the grid. It looks like you forgot the other races of the champ and the standings too! Not to mention that in Spain, in the race, actually Ferrari was slightly faster and the fact that RBR qualified better and managed to stay in front, in free air, was the decisive part that turned the things in their favour. I agree that RBR is closer this year, but overall I think Ferrari still is faster. We shall see…

        1. @corrado-dub Agree, still think Ferrari will pan out to be the second fastest car to the Mercs. RBR add a little intrigue but we will see after Monaco.

    3. Oh my love, oh Ferrari. Mamma mia… another wasted year…

      1. Even Torro Rosso is beating Ferrari :-( ……..oh my soul!! With last years engine….

    4. “I just didn’t get everything out of the car..But overall the car is good and has the pace. So I am not worried for Saturday”

      There is no doubt that Ferrari have under-performed and disappointed many so far this year but I do believe they have a car that has a strong race pace and which can set fast laps when set-up properly. I expect Seb to deliver on Saturday, no doubt about that.

      1. Doubt he’ll line up better than P4. Looks like Seb is getting a lesson in Ferrari’s true potential. Now he’ll start feeling Fernando’s pain

        1. Fernando’s pain? Definitely! Remember the time he crashed the car in FP3 and didn’t qualify when he had a car that was capable of win? 2010. Definitely stay in his memory till the end.

          1. ……in fp1 and 2 it’s when it happens in quali and the race is when it is bad. However today’s practice times clearly show nothing as McLaren were no where and Ron said they will be right at the sharp end. That is conclusive proof today’s times do not mean anything.

          2. @evered7 . Alonso might still finished in P4 or P5 at the end of the race in 2010, which is probably the same position Vettel will finish in at the end of Sunday. Although I do not understand what point you were trying to make with the P3 crash.

            The point of ‘pain’ I was trying to make was how Ferrari have underdelivered again in 2016, similarly to how they underdelivered in 2011 with Alonso, and will constantly under deliver till the top notch and hungry driver loses his patience.

    5. Cameron Keen
      26th May 2016, 22:54

      I wonder if James Allison is with the team at the moment? The sad news of his wifes death would have meant that he would have taken some time away to be with children and family. I wonder if this has anything to do with Ferrari’s troubles lately?

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