Vettel surprised with ninth after last corner error

2015 Belgian Grand Prix

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Sebastian Vettel said he was surprised to only qualify ninth for the Belgian Grand Prix despite making an error at the end of his final lap.

“I didn’t go off,” Vettel told reporters after qualifying, “it was a normal lap, but a little bit deep into the last corner.”

“Surprised it was only good enough for ninth,” he added. Vettel is expected to start from eighth after Romain Grosjean takes a five-place penalty for a gearbox change.

“We just couldn’t make the step from Q2 to Q3,” Vettel added. “I think it was tight, a tight pack, so we went from being just in front to behind. That’s what happened.”

Vettel expects the start of the race “could be a bit different” due to the changes which have been introduced this weekend “but for sure the target is to make up ground at the start and then in the opening lap as much as possible”.

“Equally it’s a long race so it doesn’t get decided in turn one or lap one.”

2015 Belgian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    11 comments on “Vettel surprised with ninth after last corner error”

    1. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 41 wins!!! For Jules (@)
      22nd August 2015, 15:24

      I know last race was quite unpredictable, but from 9th, it looks somber for Seb. If he DOES recover from it, it would be epic!!! But given how out of form Mercs starts have been recently, it’s Bottas time to try to reach the top step. I hope Williams don’t fail to him this time again!

      1. @omarr-pepper Don’t get your hopes up about Bottas. Merc has a 1 second advantage, and given how pathetically over-powered DRS at Spa, he’s not going to cling to the lead even if he gets it after the start.

      2. I think it’s only Mercedes that can beat themselves – Williams are too slow in a straight line and lack a bit even in the fiddly bits.

    2. Hm, I wonder how much that mistake cost him.

      1. Yeah. Didn’t see the lap, but I doubt it cost him 3 tenths required for 3th on the grid. Williams and Red Bull look faster. At least for quali.

      2. Costly time to make a mistake. Only 0.3 from 3rd to 9th. Unfortunate for Vettel. But, did he really lose all that time in 1 corner? He didn’t seem fazed by going slightly deep there…

      3. He said it’s cost him 0.2 sec in Sky. So he should be in 6th. Still not great.

    3. I’ve got a question, if anyone can answer it…..did the FIA do away with the ‘track limits’ penalities in qualifying? Both Vettel (in Quali 2) and Rosberg (in Q3) clearly exceeded the track limits on their fast laps, but no loss of lap times. I was never in favor of that rule to begin with, but I don’t understand why it is being applied seemingly arbitrarily…does anyone know why this happens?

      1. @medman

        There were specific corners the FIA was looking at. Antony Davidson showed Vettel’s excursion and it was actually at a place where he would lose time (and not one the FIA was looking at).

        Not sure about Rosberg.

        1. Thanks for the reply…I figured it had to be something like that, but I didn’t ever hear an explanation for it from the particular crew that was commenting on the feed I was watching. Cheers.

    4. Apart from Mercedes, this is the most competitive situation on quite some time.

      Vettel didn’t lost even 0.3s to Bottas and is 6 positions behind. Hulk made a minor mistake on his lap and for it didn’t make into Q3… Kimi also should be there but his car failed. And Verstappen too.

      The only teams clearly behind are Sauber, Mclaren and Manor.

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