F1: Vettel Not Disappointed To Lose Pole

Formula 1

F1: Vettel Not Disappointed To Lose Pole

Sebastian Vettel believes he can win the Korean GP from second on the grid...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted October 13, 2012 Yeongam (KOR)

Sebastian Vettel is the defending race winner of the Korean Grand Prix. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Sebastian Vettel did his best to hide his disappointment after being beaten to pole in Korea by teammate Mark Webber.

Vettel topped Q1, Q2 and the first runs in Q3, but lost out when it mattered. However, he hasn’t forgotten that in the 2011 Korean GP, he passed pole man Lewis Hamilton on the first lap and won as he pleased.

“Obviously, I have good memories from last year with Lewis, when he was on pole,” said Vettel. “I think we’ll see tomorrow that it’s a long race. Surely the lap was fine, but I should have been a little bit quicker, so I wasn’t able in the end to do the final step, especially in the second sector.

“I think sector one and sector three were fine, but we got a little bit mixed-up second sector, so I think if you look at the lap times, in the end it was fairly close. I think we’re happy with second and a front row for Red Bull Racing. Obviously, the car seems to work well. I think in the race we might be even in a little bit better place. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Vettel is not worried about starting on the dirty side of the track: “I don't think it's a big disadvantage. Surely, I think I would rather be on pole but qualifying is over, so we start from second, and I don't think it's a big problem. Last year we made a good launch, and I think here that you never know what happens.

“You might as well start third, fourth, fifth, and you could end up first by turn four, so you don't know. There's a long straight after the second corner. Obviously, I had a tight battle with Lewis last year, so these things you have to take them as they come, so it's difficult to know now what's going to happen, but first of all, I will focus on the start and then go from there.”

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.