Sebastian Vettel believes the Red Bull rival Daniel Ricciardo was out of reach in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, and that Ferrari can be satisfied with a front-row start.
Ricciardo dominated running on both Thursday and Saturday and was odds-on for pole position, which he claimed, but the absence of team-mate Max Verstappen opened up a front-row start for a non-Red Bull driver.
Vettel trailed Lewis Hamilton after the first Q3 runs but was able to find more lap time on his second attempt and hauled himself onto the front row of the grid.
"I was pretty happy. I think there is always the feeling that there is a little bit but I don’t think we were a threat to Daniel’s time today," said Vettel.
"So, I think you always look back and think ‘here and there’, especially around this place, but well done to Daniel, he owned the qualifying session.
"For us, I think, we were playing around with the set-up quite a bit trying to squeeze out everything because we knew we had to if we wanted to have a word for front row and for pole.
"I think we put ourselves in a good position. I think they looked strong yesterday, they looked strong this morning, I think we got as close as we could and now we see what we can do tomorrow?"
With a gruelling 78-lap race ahead on the streets of the Principality lying in wait, Vettel has said he isn't going to take the front-row slot for granted and won't take half-hearted chances in his search for victory, knowing anything can happen throughout the race.
"If you look at the race, then it’s nearly impossible to overtake, we know that, but it’s still one of the most fascinating races because things can happen, added the German.
"It doesn’t mean that they do happen but they can. Rain is not forecasted, I guess, for tomorrow but who knows? It’s going to be a long race, a lot of laps, easy to do a small mistake which goes without noticing or can be very costly.
"I think the plan is to – as I said – make a good start and then settle into the race. Keep the pressure up until the end."
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