Vettel 6th, Raikkonen 5th as Red Bull take second row in Barcelona
Saturday 14 May 2016 16:29, UK
Sebastian Vettel was at a loss to explain why Ferrari could only manage to lock out the third row of the grid for the Spanish GP.
The Scuderia's performance had been encouraging all weekend prior to a qualifying session Mercedes once again dominated, while even Red Bull finished ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Vettel in Barcelona.
"I don't think it was a general lack of speed," Vettel, who admitted to making mistakes on his final flying lap, said. "In all sessions so far we have been quite competitive. It was as much of a surprise for us as it was for you.
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"It's something we don't yet understand. I'm sure there's a reason for it. Something changed, the conditions, something made us fall out of the window compared to the other cars.
"We lost quite a lot of competitiveness in comparison."
Despite a renewed sense of optimism ahead of the season, Ferrari have yet to trouble Mercedes in 2016 and have been blighted by reliability concerns and first-lap contact. Neither could be an excuse on Saturday though, and they have not beaten their rivals since last September's Singapore GP.
Qualifying in particular seems to be a problem for the Italian outfit, but they did not expect to be beaten to the second row by Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull debutant Max Verstappen.
But Vettel seemed confident when asked just why the Renault-powered RB12 was quicker than the Ferraris at the Circuit de Catalunya.
"Today, they are, but i don't think they are in general," he added, before referencing the lack of upgrades the team had brought to the European season-opener.
"I'm responsible for the changes as equally as the team and we were confident we were applying the right things. But I think we need to calm down."
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Under-pressure team boss Maurizio Arrivabene has been dogged by reports in Italy suggesting Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne could replace him with current technical director James Allison.
"Something went wrong for both drivers," he told Sky F1. "We need to check now what happened. You see the timings of this morning, it's not comparable."
Watch the Spanish GP live on Sky Sports F1. The race starts at 1pm on Sunday, with build-up underway at 11.30am. Or watch the race without a contract for £6.99 on NOW TV.
