Sebastian Vettel praised the "help from a friend" he received from Kimi Raikkonen after the championship leader used a slipstream from the Finn to secure second position on the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix.

The assistance came on the day it was confirmed the two drivers will extend their partnership for an extra year at least, following the announcement of a new three-year deal for Sebastian Vettel earlier on Saturday. are known to have a good relationship between them despite the competitive nature of the sport.

They are known to have a good relationship between them, which was precisely why the 2007 world champion was retained for 2018, and Raikkonen has had a positive weekend finishing ahead of his teammate in all sessions and even heading into the end of Q3.

However, on his last run, Kimi lost valuable time in Sector 2 which made him abort his lap but from that, an opportunity was presented to help a struggling Vettel, who was fifth at the time and running behind him.

"I think I had a little bit of a help from a friend," Vettel explained after qualifying. "Kimi was very generous giving me a nice tow in the last sector, which got me like two-tenths, so that helped – it made it more comfortable with Valtteri [Bottas].”

Commenting on the performance of his Ferrari, he added: "In Q1 I was really happy, the car was amazing. In Q2, the job was to get through. In Q3, on the first lap, I was missing a bit of feel for the front.

"My second run in Q3 was better in that regard, and I got a bit of a help, but it was tricky getting into the last corner, knowing you arrive faster with the tow, and braking is never easy.

"I managed to get it right and get it across the line.”

The four-time world champion now has high hopes ahead of the race with the long run simulations performed throughout the weekend showed a good pace.

"Our pace has been very good this weekend, less for one lap, more for long runs, so let's see what we can do."

On the other side of the garage, Raikkonen downplayed the importance of his move, believing it’s normal to have this team spirit mentality. He also rejected any idea that the pit wall had instructed him to help Vettel, insisting it was his decision.

"Don't try to make a f**king stupid story about this," Raikkonen snapped at reporters. "I had a mistake, I was coming back, and obviously if I can help our team I will do it. There are not any other stories behind it."

The former world champion had a good start to his weekend but struggled with vibrations during qualifications.

"I don't know what it (the vibration) is," he admitted. "At first it was worse, then a little bit less, then it disappeared and then it came back. Apart from that, it was going pretty okay… on the last run, there were some small things that were not ideal, and we went a bit sideways at one place.

"I was struggling a bit with the tyre temperatures, for whatever reason, on the last lap, so I got sideways and I couldn't finish the lap."