Vettel: 'Stupid' Ferrari strategy almost a 'miracle'

Sebastian Vettel insisted Ferrari were on the brink of pulling off a "miracle" during qualifying at the Japanese Grand Prix, albeit admitting that their wet-weather tyre gamble left them "looking stupid" after he could only go ninth-fastest on Saturday at Suzuka.

After a shower curtailed Q2, Ferrari sent Vettel and Raikkonen out on intermediates at the start of Q3.

However, the track was too dry for the green-stripe tyres to work effectively and the pair had to scuttle back to the pits for slicks.

No other teams had attempted the same gamble and Lewis Hamilton clocked one minute27.760 – a time that was soon cemented as the best when rain returned to the track – leaving Vettel and Raikkonen to complete scruffy laps that were uncompetitive.

"Five minutes [later] it started to rain quite heavy so there was something in the air," Vettel said of the gamble.

"I think we expected that there was more rain coming and obviously it didn't so then it was the wrong decision.

Saturday at Suzuka. #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/aw0dJUS3rq — Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) October 6, 2018

When the conditions are like this you either get it right or you get it wrong so I'm not blaming anybody.

"If it started to rain five, six seven minutes earlier then we did a miracle because we're the only clever ones and if it's like that obviously we're the only ones looking stupid.

"Therefore I defend the decision, it's our decision as a team. Obviously it wasn't wet enough to start with and then the rain came later."

Vettel will start the race eighth on the grid thanks to Esteban Ocon's penalty for failing to slow for red flags in FP3.

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