Sebastian Vettel says a last sector tow by Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen helped him secure second on the grid ahead of Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, although it wasn't enough to get him ahead of championship rival Lewis Hamilton.
Räikkönen chose to abort his lap due to an earlier error, but positioned himself in order to give his team-mate a slipstream through the final sector, which Vettel claims gained him around two-tenths, making the margin back to Bottas "comfortable".
"I think I had a little bit of a help from a friend," said the German. "Kimi had to abort his lap and was very generous giving me a nice tow in the last sector which got me like two tenths, that helped, and made it more comfortable with Valtteri.
"It as tricky going into the last corner as knowing you arrive faster with the tow and braking [earlier] is never easy but I managed to get it right and get it across the line."
Ferrari have focussed on their long-run pace this weekend and believe they'll be a match for Mercedes, therefore Vettel is expecting a tough but good race.
"Pace has been very good this weekend – the long run pace yesterday. The car is really good, especially for the race. Tomorrow will be a tough day, the start, the first lap, the straights and general strategy, so we’ll see what happens."
