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Vettel admits he was too conservative in Q3

Sebastian Vettel admitted he was too conservative in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix after finishing Q3 down in fourth position.

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H

XPB Images

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H
Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari

The Ferrari driver, who will drop five places on the grid due to a gearbox change penalty, finished behind the two Mercedes and the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.

Vettel had topped final practice and believes he had the pace to go quickest in qualifying as well, but the tricky conditions made it a lottery, according to the German.

"I don't think it had anything to do with practice," said Vettel of the qualifying conditions. "In the end it was a lucky draw and how much risk you were taking.

"It was a question of when you were crossing the line, the later the better. With hindsight, I wasn't taking enough risks, but then again I think the cars behind me had better track conditions as well.

"That's not an excuse, that's a fact. But as I said, I should have taken more risks. In the end it came down to one lap."

He added: "I think it was looking very good this morning. The feeling was very good, the car was very good. It should be good news for tomorrow that the race is quite strong."

Vettel reckons, however, that Ferrari is on a better tyre strategy than rival Mercedes, as both him and Kimi Raikkonen will start on the supersofts.

"We think it's an advantage. Otherwise we would have gone for the ultrasofts. I think other people had the same thought. Some succeeded and others didn't if you look at the running in Q2."

Raikkonen qualified in sixth, and also conceded he could have been quicker.

"For many small reasons we didn't go faster, so we have to look at ourselves and take the blame," he said.

Don’t miss our Austrian GP video preview…

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