Ferrari: Front row for Räikkönen, last place for Vettel
Mixed fortunes for Ferrari drivers in qualifying: Sebastian Vettel couldn't complete a single lap and will start last in the race, while Kimi Räikkönen fought until the end for pole position, missing out by just a few thousandths to finish in second place.
Victim of an engine failure at the end of FP3 and during qualifying, Sebastian Vettel will start from the back of the grid on Sunday for the race. A nightmare situation for the title contender after his retirement in Singapore.
Despite an engine change between the two sessions, the German could not make a quick lap in qualifying as he explained, dejected, after Q1: « We had a problem this morning and therefore decided to change the engine. When we went out [in qualifying], everything seemed perfect. I was on my out lap, and all of a sudden, really abruptly, in turn 5, I lost power. I was lucky to be able to get back to my pit where my engineers looked into the problem, but unfortunately, we couldn’t resolve it. »
However, the four-time world champion does not want to give up and believes he has a role to play in the race: « Of course, this result is not what we expected. Especially when we know we have the car that can allow us to aim high. Unfortunately, we couldn’t prove it. But it’s the race tomorrow that will count. Yes, it was a difficult day and the guys worked hard to try to solve the problem. Changing the engine between FP3 and qualifying is a small miracle. But the car is fast and there are many laps to complete tomorrow. We will come back. » concludes with optimism Vettel.
But Ferrari still had reasons to smile after the qualifications with Kimi Räikkönen’s beautiful second place, which will represent the most probable chance tomorrow to thwart the plans of Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton on pole position: « It’s not bad, but clearly when you are so close, it’s still disappointing. But I did my best. There are always things to improve, but I must say the car behaved well all weekend and that’s positive. Tomorrow, we’ll have to try and do more than 100 meters and then we’ll see what happens. » describes the Finn in his inimitable style.
The driver of car number 7 briefly reflects on his teammate’s bad luck: « Of course it’s a shame not to have seen him qualify. But sometimes, these things happen. It’s unfortunate for him, but I’m sure he’ll do well tomorrow. » he concludes.
First 3 on the grid at #MalaysiaGP #Quali #Kimi7 pic.twitter.com/caXQ7kPrNJ
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) 30 septembre 2017
