F1: Vettel Eyes Win From Fourth In Brazil

Formula 1

F1: Vettel Eyes Win From Fourth In Brazil

Sebastian Vettel doesn't want to simply coast to the World Championship in Sunday's race...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted November 24, 2012 Sao Paulo (BRA)

On the cusp of a likely third World Championship, Sebastian Vettel will start fourth at Interlagos. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel will start the Brazilian GP from fourth place after losing out to both McLarens and teammate Mark Webber in Q3.

Vettel was fastest in Q2 but was on the back foot after making mistake on his first run in Q3, which saw him drop to 10th at one stage.

“On the first run I made a mistake in Turn 4. The second run I was pretty happy with it,” he said. “Q1 was quite busy, the circuit was getting quicker throughout, so the last couple of laps were the most important.

“I’ve come out of qualifying and I could have done a little bit better. I need to go back now and see the data and see where I wasn’t quick enough. Obviously, Mark was a bit quicker. I think all in all we are in good shape; we’ve been competitive all weekend. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow. We have to do our race. We’ve had 19 races so far and this is just another one. We’ll try to do our best.”

Vettel will start three spots up the grid from Fernando Alonso, the only driver with a mathematical shot at taking the title from Vettel on Sunday.

Vettel can clinch his third straight championship by finishing fourth or better.

Asked whether he would try hard to win the race, the German said: “Of course. We’re not here to finish fourth, we’re here to fight for victory. McLaren was very quick all weekend. We knew that they would be competitive again in qualifying. Like I said, the lap in Q3 was maybe not 100 percent perfect, so I need to go back and check out where I lost out.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.