Sebastian Vettel said there was no reason for himself and Ferrari to be disappointed with qualifying after taking third spot on the grid for tomorrow.
Vettel was eight-tenths off the pole time set by reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton in the final session, finishing third just ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
Despite question marks over the gap to the Silver Arrows, the quadruple world champion remains optimistic for Sunday’s race.
Not really,” he said when asked if there was a feeling of disappointment with the qualifying result.
“I think I said many times that we have done a step forwards, which I think we have. I think especially tomorrow we should be quite a bit closer.
“We expected them to be strong in qualifying, which they were. I think we had a bit of a rougher start to find a bit the rhythm, certainly I had, and it was just getting better throughout qualifying.
‘Very happy with the lap I had in the end, so we called it there and saved the set of tyres for tomorrow.”
The German is looking to repeat his 2011 victory at Albert Park, and felt the second-row lockout is a positive step for the Italian outfit.
“Surely we’re not on the front row but we still have high hopes for the race and it’s going to be a long year, we know this car has a lot of potential, so I think as a starting out third and fourth, locking out the second row, is a good achievement,” Vettel added.
“The team’s been pushing very hard and as I said we have a long year ahead of us.”
