It was a horrific day in the office for Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel as he qualified 7th fastest. As it turned out, the German driver was forced to abandon his first flying lap. When he radioed the team, and reported that he missed an upshift, which resulted in a mistake.
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His only option was a single flying lap, and he is often capable of pulling off blinding laps when least expected. Sadly, today was not one of those days as he could only muster 7th on the grid. On a more embarrassing note, he even ended up behind, not one, but both McLarens.
Lewis Hamilton secured pole position while teammate Valtteri Bottas was 2nd, ahead of the other Ferrari of Charles LeClerc. Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was 4th ahead of an all-McLaren 3rd row with Lando Norris leading Carlos Sainz Jr.
Coming back to Sebastian Vettel, he said, “In Q3 I just did not have a good feeling in the car. Felt better on the harder tyres and did not have the grip I wanted. Some laps were okay, at the end unfortunately not so much.”
When he spoke to the Ferrari team, an apologetic Sebastian Vettel sheepishly replied, “We will bounce back tomorrow.”
It was a humbling moment for the 4-time Formula One World Champion, in all honesty. It would have been equally humiliating to be behind a team that has been struggling to be among the leaders for the past few years. Behind the despondent Sebastian Vettel was Renault driver and former teammate Daniel Ricciardo, Verstappen’s teammate Pierre Gasly, and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.
Luckily for Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari could still cook up a good strategy to try and bring him back in the hunt during the race. It will be a long race and anything can happen between the start and the the chequered flag.
