“I think today wasn’t great,” he admitted. “Maybe we shouldn’t have put laps
on the prime tyre, because now we have five laps on the tyre starting the
race, and the guys behind me have brand new tyres.
“It’s not the best way to start, but it’s going to be a hot race, and I think
it’s probably going to be the hottest race we’ve had this year.
“It will hopefully throw up a few surprises for everyone, and we can still
have a good afternoon.”
Hopefully. With Button’s luck at the moment, however, it is doubtful.
He began this week with a cold after his exertions in a triathlon in Ireland
last weekend and has been playing catch-up ever since, losing the bulk of
Friday practice to gearbox issues.
He only squeezed into Q3 by the skin of his teeth after Williams’ Pastor
Maldonado lost his rear end.
Ahead of him the competition looks ferocious. The qualifying session had been
billed as potentially the tightest qualifying session in many a season after
the top 16 cars were separated by less than a second in morning practice.
In the end Vettel was imperious, shrugging off further enforced changes to his
car to remind everyone of the shoot-out skills on which his two world titles
have been built.
“I think it’s not just a hole in the floor that makes all the difference,” he
grinned after climbing out of his car and flashing that famous index finger.
“But in the end we didn’t really see a big impact on the performance of the
car. The car works as a whole. Not just a hole in the floor.”
Incredibly, this was the 32nd pole of Vettel’s career and he’s still only 24.
Hamilton said he was happy just to be on the front row, with his McLaren
finding the warmer conditions much trickier than the colder temperatures on
Friday.
“It was definitely a bit harder for us today,” he said. “We struggled to get
the tyres to switch on. But I’m very, very happy with the performance and
surprised to see us on the front row.
“Of course I want to win but these guys [Red Bull and Ferrari] are
phenomenally quick at the moment. I’m not sure if we have the pace. We’ll
see tomorrow.”