Why did Vettel not take part in Q3 in Austria?

Ferrari has confirmed that Sebastian Vettel did not take part in the third qualifying session for the Austrian Grand Prix due to an air pressure issue on his car.

Just as the German was preparing for Q3, a group of Ferrari engineers surrounded his car after spotting the problem, and after several minutes desperately trying to rectify the issue, it was decided that Vettel would run out of time to record a lap.

He will now start the grid in ninth place - gaining a position thanks to Kevin Magnussen’s grid penalty for a new gearbox.

The incident is the latest in a long line of disappointments for Vettel, who was recently stripped of the victory at the Canadian GP after receiving a penalty for illegally rejoining the track ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Shortly after quaifying, he confirmed that the damage on the car was nobody’s fault.

“Obviously it’s frustrating but there’s nothing you can do but it’s nobody’s fault,” he said.

“For sure we need to understand what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again but as I said, it’s nobody’s fault.”

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