Vettel reveals severity of neck injury

Vettel reveals severity of neck injury

Originally written by Joas van Wingerden. This version is a translation.

Saturday 7 July 2018 17:17

Sebastian Vettel feared he would be ruled out of qualifying for the British Grand Prix after injuring his neck at Silverstone on Saturday. The Ferrari man ended up qualifying second behind title rival Lewis Hamilton, but was spotted with his neck heavily strapped.

Vettel did not appear impeded by the issue, topping the timesheets in Q1 and going quicker than Hamilton after the first runs in Q1, only for the Mercedes man to pull out a magical lap at the last to secure a record-breaking sixth pole on home soil.

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The German only completed six laps in Saturday's practice session before leaving the garage for treatment, which was still ongoing shortly before qualifying.

Although he pulled through, Vettel later revealed how close he had come to a costly absence.

"To be honest this morning no, I wasn't sure if I could do qualifying," Vettel said if he had expected to go well on Saturday.

"The last lap I was happy with it, seemed to lose a lot of time in the straights so I was missing a bit of tow but I think it was very close.

"I was happy with second and it gives us a good chance.

"It's nothing dramatic, the session was fine. We had to call it a bit earlier this morning than I would have wanted but it was fine.

"I don't know what happened, but it was a bit stiff. We loosened it up. I'm not worried [for the race] because the speed will be less than quali."