Still, Vettel said he was happy to be third on the grid.
“I think what we had in qualifying was still pretty good and competitive,”
he said. “Obviously, some boxes will never be ticked so we won’t get
the answers we wanted to. But we found a compromise nevertheless.”
Vettel also dismissed suggestions that he would change his strategy after
Alonso qualified in seventh – a difficult place on the grid because the Abu
Dhabi track is traditionally not conducive to passing.
“We have to try to win the race. You can’t go around looking at one guy
particular,” Vettel said, referring to Alonso. “We go for the
fastest race. At the moment, Lewis is ahead of us. We will try and hunt him
down.”
Vettel has won the past four races to overtake Alonso at the top, and is the
clear favourite to pick up a third title. He leads the Spaniard with
Raikkonen 67 points back in third. Webber is a further six points back, and
Hamilton another two points back. Webber and Hamilton are just barely alive
in the championship race, needing to win every race and hope Vettel doesn’t
finish to have a chance.
Vettel cannot win the title this weekend but another victory and a strong
performance at the United States Grand Prix would make it difficult for
anyone to topple him. If he wins this year’s title, he would join Juan
Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher as the only drivers to win three
championships in a row. Vettel would be the youngest to achieve that feat.
The team, though, can clinch its third consecutive constructors’ title in Abu
Dhabi if Vettel wins and Webber finishes no worse than eighth, or the two
finish second and third. Red Bull leads Ferrari by 91 points, and McLaren
was a further 10 points behind.