Sebastian Vettel will start tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix from 3rd on the grid, after the reigning World Champion endured a difficult qualifying session at Budapest. The German driver was +0.463 seconds off the pace of Lewis Hamilton, who’s dominant performance overshadowed the reigning World Champion earlier today.
Unlike last season, Sebastian Vettel has not been in charge of proceedings at the front. The German driver has so far only been victorious once this season, at the Bahrain Grand Prix back in April. Since then, Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber has won more races and currently sits 10 points clear of his number one team-mate.
With Mark Webber set to start tomorrow’s race from 11th on the grid, Sebastian Vettel has a perfect opportunity to leapfrog his team-mate in the Championship standings. However, the German star will undoubtedly be hoping for a better days running during tomorrow’s race, after what was described as a difficult session for Red Bull.
“It was [a] difficult session for us.” Explained Sebastian Vettel, “We didn’t get into qualifying how we would like and the rhythm wasn’t there straight away. We burned more tyres than we thought in the beginning, so we only had one new set for Q3. The run we had was okay, but I didn’t get the same feeling that I got at the end of Q2, which was a surprise, so we didn’t seem to go with the track and make another step. We know it’s difficult to overtake here, but hopefully we will have a good start. Tyre management will be crucial.”
Historically, the pole man has struggled to convert his success on Saturday into a victory on the Sunday. Sebastian Vettel will hoping this statistic comes into play during tomorrow’s 70-lap race, as he strives to surpass both Romain Grosjean and Lewis Hamilton to what would be his first victory around the Hungaroring.
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