Sebastian Vettel said he was surprised to outqualify the McLarens by nearly half a second at the Italian Grand Prix and is now confident that he will also have a strong race.
Vettel clocked a 1:22.275 right at the end of the third qualifying session at Monza to put himself 0.450s clear of his nearest challenger, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. During Friday practice the McLarens had looked close to the Red Bulls and Vettel admitted that the gap on Saturday afternoon was something of a surprise.
"We thought it would be much closer than that," he said. "I had a bit of an improvement on my second lap of my first run but we weren't sure whether the tyres would work best on the first or second lap. We had a bit of a mistake [on the second lap of the first run] but I stayed out and focussed only on the last run we had.
"I knew I had a bit more time in the car and in the second run we had a couple of cars ahead down the road which always helps here at Monza. But surely we would not expect to go on pole by that big a margin on a track that, over the last few years hasn't suited us, so this year I have to say the car is very good here."
Vettel reckons the McLarens opted to run more rear wing downforce than him in the hope that the DRS would allow them to be fast on the straights while maintaining grip in the corners. However, Vettel said that he was delighted with the overall package of his Red Bull with its skinnier wing and he fancies his chances of maintaining his pace throughout the race on Sunday.
"The balance is perfect, even though for most of the people here, except those two [the McLaren drivers], we don't carry a lot of wing around and on low downforce it is very slippery," he added. "But still we are quite quick throughout all the three sectors to put it together so I'm very happy today. Also, considering we have quite a racey approach, I am very pleased with today."
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