Formula 1

Sebastian Vettel says Lewis Hamilton was 'the better man' in Canadian GP qualifying

Published Jun. 11, 2017 10:35 a.m. ET

Adam Cooper

Sebastian Vettel had to settle for second on the grid in Montreal after he was unable to match an awesome lap by Lewis Hamilton.

A mistake on the final runs proved crucial, and Vettel found himself 0.330 seconds shy of the Mercedes driver. However he remains optimistic about the race, and with the Ferrari’s ability to make good starts, he has a pretty good chance of reversing the situation come Sunday.

“First of all, congrats to him, it’s a massive achievement, so he was the better man today,” said Vettel of his rival. “I’m not entirely happy. We had a bit of a different run in in qualifying, which was fine and it just got better and better, and for the last run I thought, ‘OK, we can step it up and I should be able to find a little bit of time.’

“But I lost the car a bit in Turn 2, I was on the back foot already, losing two tenths out of the second corner," Vettel added. "And then I knew I had to catch up, which I did until the end of the lap, but just enough to do the same time as before, so not entirely clean. I would have loved to get a better lap at the end. But that’s how it is, but nevertheless I think the car is very good. I was happy this morning, I was happy this afternoon, and it should be very good in the race, so looking forward to tomorrow.”

Vettel expects a tight contest in Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix.

“I think it has been very close in every race so far," he said. "Maybe Monaco they were struggling a bit more in terms of pace, but everywhere else we went it’s unfair to say that one was quicker than the other. I think we were in the same tenth in race pace. That’s great.

“Not so easy to overtake if you are that close, no matter where you go, but we’ll see," Vettel added. "It will be a long race."

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