Sebastian Vettel says he thought he had almost missed out on his last gasp pole position after a minor mistake in Turn Six on his pole lap.
The Ferrari driver was forced to make a minor correction in the tight right-hander after losing grip, but was still able to snatch pole position by just eight hundredths of a second from Max Verstappen.
“It was quite a lap, I have to say,” says Vettel. “I’m really, really happy.
“It’s very difficult here – it’s very slippery and difficult to get everything in one lap and had a little bit in the first sector and managed to get that right so I had a good start. Then I had a bit of a moment in turn six and I nearly lost it there. I had to go down to first gear but didn’t lose any time. Then I knew in the last sector if I could just keep it clean and cross the line it should be enough and it was, so I’m really really happy.”
Vettel praised Ferrari’s changes to the car between Friday and Saturday that allowed him to wring more pace out of the SF70H and pip Verstappen and Red Bull to pole position.
“Yesterday wasn’t that good for us, in all honesty, but I think overnight we improved,” explains Vetterl.
“We had a lot of things that we worked on and changed and they worked, so for now I’m really happy and tomorrow we’ll see what happens but the race pace should be good.”
2017 Mexican Grand Prix
- 2017 Mexican Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2017 Mexican Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- 2017 Mexican Grand Prix weekend Star Performers
- ‘Race director, look at the race please’: Mexican GP team radio highlights
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