Vettel only third in Singapore as Hamilton claims pole; "We should have done better. We had the ingredients but we didn't put it together. Pole was definitely there to grasp."
Tuesday 4 December 2018 18:10, UK
Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari should have done better in Singapore GP qualifying and believes Lewis Hamilton's pole lap was not "unbeatable".
Vettel had been favourite to claim a fifth pole at Marina Bay but could only manage third, and was six tenths behind Hamilton, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen between the two title rivals.
The German had complained about being in a "nasty spot" in Q2 over team radio before bemoaning when Ferrari had put him out for his Q3 runs.
Hamilton beats Ferrari to pole
Hamilton: Pole lap magical
"The gap is a surprise. But l don't think it reflects the true performance. For us, it wasn't as smooth as we wanted it to be," Vettel told Sky F1.
"As l said, it wasn't ideal - you can figure out what l mean. We should have done better. We had the ingredients but we didn't put it together. Pole was definitely there to grasp."
Vettel had topped final practice but the German said he had struggled to find the same rhythm throughout qualifying.
"[It's] just disappointing that we didn't get the maximum out of our package," he said.
"The gap is quite big so Lewis had a really good lap, congratulations to him. I'm sure it was a good one but I don't think it was unbeatable.
"But for us, the way we composed qualifying I think it was difficult to get a rhythm in Q1, Q2 and Q3 so I think other people did a better job. That includes Lewis' lap as an individual and them as a team.
"I don't want to take anything away from Lewis' lap, but it's clear that we could have done better. I don't think there's much point in going into detail - maybe preparing the lap for qualifying. In the end, I had the laps and they were not strong enough or good enough to be near."
