Sebastian Vettel worryingly admitted qualifying was “one of the better sessions” he’s had despite only qualifying 11th for the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver failed to make Q3 for the second straight weekend in Barcelona, having been knocked out by a strong last-gasp effort from Pierre Gasly and finishing just 0.002s behind Lando Norris in P10.
And reflecting on his best lap, the four-time world champion admits a few errors made a big difference in his result.
“The first sector was OK, but then in the middle sector the car started to feel more and more nervous,” Vettel explained.
“I struggled in particular in Turn 7, losing the rear halfway, so it was difficult to judge how much speed to carry in. Also Turn 5 was very tricky for me this afternoon.
“That’s the middle sector, and in the last sector, it got better towards the end, but still very tricky to find the right balance.
“It was one of the better sessions this weekend, but still obviously not good enough.”
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After a difficult two weekends at Silverstone, Vettel was given a new chassis by Ferrari for the Spanish GP but its impact has been mixed.
“It’s up and down, to be honest. There are still some things I can’t really put an answer to,” the German said.
“But I’m trying to do everything I can, and ignore all the things that might not be right, and do the best that I can.
“That’s all I can do at the moment.”
Overall, it was a tricky day for Ferrari as Leclerc was only ninth quickest, albeit within the same tenth as Carlos Sainz in sixth.
But the Monegasque does believe there was more performance in the SF1000.
“I was just not happy with the car today,” Leclerc said.
“The beginning of qualifying was OK, but then it fell out, session after session in qualifying. It just didn’t have enough front end to rotate the car.
“We’ve lost quite a bit of time because of this, so now we need to understand why did this happen.
“It’s something that we regularly have with this car, struggling with the front in mid-corner. Today, there were not really any solutions.”
