Sebastian Vettel thought Ferrari would be more competitive in the wet after matching their grid positions from last weekend in Styrian Grand Prix qualifying.
Just like seven days ago, the German and teammate Charles Leclerc battled it out to decide who would be the 10th participant in Q3 and who would miss out.
But this time, in terrible conditions in Austria, a burst of heavier rain near the end of Q2 helped Vettel keep the Monegasque behind him by less than a tenth of a second.
Even so, Sebastian was disappointed after finishing a massive 2.4s off the pace set by polesitter Lewis Hamilton.
“Honestly, yes,’’ Vettel said when asked if he expected Ferrari to be closer in the wet.
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“It was a difficult session for us. We struggled to get the tyres to work and now we have to have a good look to see why. I had lots of aquaplaning in particular at the end of Q2 and in Q3 as well.
“So not ideal. We need to make sure we learn the maximum we can from this session and take it into the next wet session. Tomorrow should be dry which is a bit different. We fight and try everything we can tomorrow.”
The Italian team was hoping a decision to fast-track some upgrades initially planned for next weekend in Hungary would help them at least battle the likes of McLaren and Racing Point.
However, despite Vettel claiming they had resulted in a “different car”, team boss Mattia Binotto admits they fell short in terms of a performance boost.
“In two qualifying sessions, albeit in different conditions, we have not been competitive, not only against those who have been our closest rivals over the past few years but also against others, who up to yesterday were generally behind us,” he said.
“We worked very hard to bring updates to the car earlier than planned, but they didn’t show their worth on track.
“We have to work out why and change this state of affairs, which is just not good enough for a team by the name of Ferrari.
“We mustn’t get het up about it, but we cannot ignore the facts.”
