Vettel: “Positive to start from the clean side”

Sebastian Vettel will start from third position on the grid at the European F1 GP. In Baku the Ferrari driver achieved the fourth fastest time in qualifying but thanks to the penalty of Sergio Perez, second today, he will start behind Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo.

“If I had to start from fourth place tomorrow I would be more disappointed. The good thing is that we start from the clean side. It could make a big difference on a new track,” commented Vettel. “If I were to make a mistake at the start I would be angry but I usually make pretty good starts and also this weekend I had a good feeling with the starting tests done so we'll see. The race will be long, the start will certainly be important but it is not the most important thing of all. The most important thing will be to see the checkered flag. We have seen that many things have already happened this weekend and it will be important to maintain concentration throughout the race because it will be tough” he added.

Despite it being a street circuit in GP2 in Baku it was possible to overtake: “I think that in general it will be possible to overtake, even if it is very difficult, like in Monte Carlo, there is always a possibility to overtake. Especially on the restarts, we'll see how simple or difficult it will be tomorrow. It always depends on who you are trying to overtake because usually the cars in front of you are a little faster or have the same pace or not much slower. I think it will be a very long race and we will have to make sure we get to the end first and foremost. As for the tyres, I think we struggled a little yesterday, maybe it was too cold for us. If tomorrow the temperatures are a little higher it will be better for us but let's not make excuses: some conditions favor one car, other conditions favor other cars but our cars must be the fastest in all conditions" concluded Vettel.