Vettel predicting tough race despite strong qualifying performance

Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel is predicting a tough 60-lap Indian Grand Prix tomorrow, despite his immensely strong qualifying performance which saw the German driver lead a Red Bull front-row lock-out ahead of Lewis Hamilton. However, with the McLarens and Ferraris strong on race pace, it might not be a straightforward affair.

Although Sebastian Vettel topped all three practice sessions and looked near-unstoppable during qualifying, the Red Bull driver still made a rare error during his first run in the all-important top ten shootout. This saw the reigning Champion lock-up whilst negotiating turn four, and then run wide and completely ruin his lap in the process. However, upon returning to the pits for fresh rubber, the German still managed to storm to his 35th career pole.

“First of all it was a tight session. I think especially in the end. My first run, I did a mistake in Turn Four and had to abort the lap, so that was not as per plan.” Explained Sebastian Vettel, “Before that obviously we had quite a good qualifying session, so we decided to go obviously for another run and had only one set of tyres left. Here and there potentially could have been a bit faster, especially around Turn Four because this time I made sure I’m not locking up the fronts but, all in all, it was a great weekend so far, no problems with the car.”

However, with Sebastian Vettel starting tomorrow’s race three places ahead of Championship rival Fernando Alonso, the Red Bull driver is remaining realistic with only four races left in the season. When Fernando Alonso spun into retirement at the Japanese Grand Prix, it was evident that one minor mistake could have massive implications on the Championship. Sebastian Vettel is all too aware that such misfortune is just around the corner.

“You know the races these days: you know that a lot of things can happen so I don’t think that means a lot [starting three places ahead of Alonso].” Continued Sebastian Vettel, “I’m very happy with that but there’s a hard race coming up tomorrow. I think we had a bit of a surprise on Friday in terms of long runs; everyone was quite competitive and tyres seemed to last reasonably well so we’ll see what that means for strategy tomorrow.”

During the all-important top ten shootout, Sebastian Vettel made one of his rare mistakes by locking his front right tyre whilst negotiating turn four. This ruined the German’s timed lap, and forced him to return to the pits for a fresh set of rubber. Second time around saw Sebastian Vettel avoid any mistakes during turn four, on his way to his third pole position in succession.

“The first lap in Q3 wasn’t perfect,” said Sebastian Vettel, as he explained his qualifying error. “I locked my front right into Turn Four, I think I was just a bit too greedy under braking and it didn’t come back, so it didn’t stop locking and I went a bit straight, so I had to abort the lap because I’d lost too much time.”

However, the dominant German is not taking anything for granted when it comes to the race, with Vettel adamant that both the McLarens and Ferraris could prove to be the spanner in the works in what could be another glorious weekend for Red Bull. Despite locking-out the front-row, Sebastian Vettel is remaining wary of his nearest competitors in what should be a highly entertaining 60-lap race around the still relatively new Buddh International Circuit.

“Tomorrow is the race, today was qualifying, no points are scored today.” Said Sebastian Vettel, “Surely it’s better to have him [Alonso] behind than in front. But I think we’ve seen a lot of different races this year; some races pretty boring, nothing happened; other races, pretty spectacular from the first to the last lap. I think tomorrow is going to be a long race, what sort of race we’re going to find out but that’s usually the exciting bit and that’s why we are looking forward to the race as well. As I said, I’m very happy to be in the position that we are in but that’s it. We go from there tomorrow.”

Sebastian Vettel has led every single lap of the Indian Grand Prix throughout it’s incredibly short time in F1, and would undoubtedly prefer to see this stat remain unchallenged during tomorrow’s race. However, with Lewis Hamilton starting from 3rd and on the clean side of the grid, it would only be a fool who would count out a McLaren attack down into turn one.

Follow me on Twitter - @AndyYoungF1