Sebastian Vettel joked that he and Lewis Hamilton produced “practically the same lap”, in the wake of their close fight for pole position at Formula 1’s British Grand Prix.
Vettel held a slender 0.057s advantage after the first runs in Q3 before Hamilton edged clear on his second effort, building a gap of 0.044s over his title rival.
Vettel’s response came up short – albeit just 0.106s down on the new benchmark – and afterwards joked “it’s so little time, it’s practically the same lap!
“I was pretty happy with the first run in Q3 and I knew had a little bit more in Sector 3, and bits around the track, which I think I got right on the second attempt, but I seemed to lose a little bit down the straights, I’m not sure why.
“But more or less I had two laps that were identical.
“Half a tenth you can always argue you find somewhere. I think he was just a little bit better in the final run, but for tomorrow I think we should be fine.”
Vettel sat out the final stages of Saturday morning’s final practice session due to what Ferrari labelled a “nuisance in the neck”, and he appeared with minor strapping to the area in qualifying.
Expanding on the issue, Vettel said: “I don’t know what happened but it went a little bit stiff.
“We loosened it up and for tomorrow I think the night will help. I’m not worried.
“Also, the speed tomorrow is less than in qualifying, because you have more fuel and you’ll be a bit slower so it’s going to be OK.”
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