Last sector crucial for pole – Vettel

Posted on

| Written by

Sebastian Vettel said he drove the second sector of his qualifying lap too conservatively but responded in the third sector to claim his ninth pole position of 2010:

Again, it was very close. I had two runs again in Q3, the first one I was already happy with the car but couldn’t really put the lap time in, I lost in the first sector.

But in the second one I had a much better beginning to the lap. The first sector is pretty straight so there’s not much you can do, just hit your braking points. Then the second and third sector here, especially, is quite entertaining with nice, flowing corners.

But it’s easy to do a mistake so I think in the last run I gave a little bit too much margin and lost in the middle sector. Obviously we have the ability in the car to check how fast we are actually going so I saw that maybe it was not enough and I speeded up in the last sector again and fortunately, with very little margin, it was enough for pole, which I think is a very good achievement from all of us.

Especially because yesterday was not so smooth running at all. We tried something and it didn’t work. Plus we had the puncture in the free practice so on a new track, which basically no-one knew before here, I had very little laps.

Also this morning we tried to save the car a little bit and only did a few runs. But I was able to get into the rhythm more and more and I was able to go with the track improvement and improve the laptimes as well.
Sebastian Vettel

He admitted the Red Bull isn’t able to match the pace of the McLarens and Ferraris in the first sector but is more than making up for it in the second and third sectors:

I think the difference with so little running yesterday and this morning was just to get into the rhythm. Some corners here are quite tricky to understand how they work, especially turns nine, ten and eleven, the long left-hander which is nicely cambered but then leads into an off-camber right-hander turn 12.

So there’s a lot of things you have to understand. Take a little bit too much kerb and you go into the dust and then, obviously, it affects the next corner. So it wasn’t easy but I think as usual when it comes to corners we know our car is very good.

On the straight line we’re doing our best. Our F-duct is improving so that helps. But there’s not much we can do so we have to fight back even harder in the corners.
Sebastian Vettel

2010 Korean Grand Prix

    Browse all 2010 Korean Grand Prix articles

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    10 comments on “Last sector crucial for pole – Vettel”

    1. Vettel was only .15 behind Alonso in the first sector and faster than Hamilton. His trap speed was only 2.9 kph behind Hamilton in Qualifying.

      Qualifying Sector 1
      1 8 Fernando Alonso 51.973
      2 5 Sebastian Vettel 52.127
      3 2 Lewis Hamilton 52.153
      4 4 Nico Rosberg 52.208
      5 7 Felipe Massa 52.234
      6 11 Robert Kubica 52.267
      7 1 Jenson Button 52.269

      Qualifying Speed Trap
      1 4 Nico Rosberg 14:09:22 320.0
      2 1 Jenson Button 14:17:35 319.9
      3 14 Adrian Sutil 14:42:01 319.2
      4 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi 14:20:10 318.9
      5 2 Lewis Hamilton 14:39:40 318.5
      6 3 Michael Schumacher 14:08:59 318.2
      7 11 Robert Kubica 14:19:37 316.6
      8 23 Kamui Kobayashi 14:41:26 316.6
      9 12 Vitaly Petrov 14:06:27 316.4
      10 5 Sebastian Vettel 14:39:44 315.6
      11 20 Sakon Yamamoto 14:03:57 314.5
      12 17 Jaime Alguersuari 14:06:45 313.8
      13 21 Bruno Senna 14:17:41 313.6
      14 6 Mark Webber 15:00:11 313.4
      15 16 Sebastien Buemi 14:27:48 313.4
      16 8 Fernando Alonso 14:12:15 313.3

      8 6 Mark Webber 52.305

      1. By those numbers Vettel should be able to hold off Alonso in S1 and hang onto the lead if he drives intelligently.

    2. Surprised by his pole as he didn’t really look at his best before quali but he delivered when it mattered.

      If Vet (and Web) hang on at the start and survive the two straights to turn 4 I think then they should waltz it esp if they pull a gap in s3 and have that cushion to protect them lap after lap. Although it could rain and even if it’s just overnight it might wash some of the dust away but also the rubber so it could be a bit mad even if it doesn’t plus the Mclarens and Fernando can’t and won’t give up and strategy could be all over the place. It should look safe for RBR but so much could happen. I love this track.

    3. well what do’s that tell you?
      for me it means you going to get your ass kicked from the start down the straights and you wont be able to get past the other cars that do pass you after the straights.
      looks to me like RB will defend but can they stop the others from getting by without crashing.
      i still think this track is great and will produce a fantastic race this weekend.
      i do believe we see some go off as loss of consideration through the windy section will have going out quicker than you can blink.

    4. If Vettel wins the 2010 Driver’s Championship will he be the youngest ever winner?

      1. Yes, he will. Hamilton was nearly 24 when he won in 2008, Vettel would be 23 years and 4 months or so.

    5. If Sebastian Vettel wins the 2010 Driver’s Championship will he be the youngest ever winner?

      1. Yes he will. He’ll beat Hamilton’s record by a few months I think.

    6. Ferrari and McLaren are faster in S1 where there are overtaking opportunities, while RedBull are faster in S2 and S3 where overtaking is a bit more difficult. If a Ferrari or McLaren gets ahead of a RedBull, they will have a difficult time passing them.

      1. The McLarens were slower than Vettel in S1 in qualifying and Alonso only a tenth and a half faster.

    Comments are closed.