Vettel: Sochi one-two an “important step”
Sebastian Vettel believes Ferrari’s front lock-out at the Russian Grand Prix represents an “important step” for the team, nine years after its last qualifying one-two.
The German edged out team-mate Kimi Raikkonen by just six hundredths of a second to grab a first pole since the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix.
A jubilant Vettel hailed the “phenomenal” performance of his SF70H and feels the team has laid down a significant marker.
“The car was phenomenal this afternoon,” he enthused. “It was really a pleasure to take a seat and go around with low fuel, just trying to push it to the limit. If you have the rhythm here it feels fantastic so I’m happy.
“A big thanks to the team, it’s a team effort and it’s a great result for us to have both cars on the front row, but it’s only part of the job. The main job is obviously tomorrow but for now it’s an important step.”
After the Scuderia dominated practice, there were suggestions that rival Mercedes was ‘sandbagging’ and was set to unleash its true pace in qualifying.
Indeed, Vettel confessed that was unsure whether he would ultimately have the pace to take pole position.
“You are always eyeing for pole when you go into qualifying, but I think I was also eyeing it in the last couple of events but I had to learn harshly in Q3 that we weren’t quite ready,” he said.
“Today I don’t think I ever looked at it and said ‘ok we can do it’. I knew that we could do well and I knew that the car was good but I didn’t know what they [Mercedes] might be able to find in the last part of qualifying.
“I knew we were strong, I knew we can do it, but I didn’t know how strong.”
Vettel is also hopeful having team-mate Raikkonen alongside him, as opposed to a Mercedes, will benefit him in Sunday’s race.
“If I had to choose I would put Kimi alongside but I think for the team it’s a great day today,” he said.
“Mercedes has been very, very dominant the last years in qualifying so it’s good to get there, get closer. It was very close again with Valtteri.
“He had a problem on his last lap but his Q2 and his first Q3 laps were very, very strong and in the end the result is very close.
“I think it’s been a mega qualifying. The car was really nice to drive and it’s a track that when the track comes alive it’s really pleasant.”