Vettel "lucky" to survive brush with wall in Q3
Sebastian Vettel admitted he was lucky to be able to complete his final lap in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix after making contact with the wall.
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The Ferrari driver secured his third pole position of the 2017 season after beating the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, outpacing them by over three tenths of a second.
During his final run, however, Vettel brushed the wall at Turn 19 and admitted he felt a big vibration towards the end of the lap.
"I was lucky on the final lap," said Vettel. "I brushed the wall out of [Turn] 19. I kept going until I approached the last corner and had huge vibrations, but luckily there was only one corner left.
"I pushed as hard as I could. I felt these guys would have something in their pockets, then I was very relieved when I crossed the line, I looked at screens and waited for the call.
"The weekend so far has been a bit up and down, yesterday was difficult, this afternoon was difficult but tonight it came alive," added Vettel, who had struggled for pace on Friday on a track where he has won four times.
The German praised his Ferrari team's efforts overnight to manage to turn its form around, and said juniors Charles Leclerc and Antonio Giovinazzi played a role in the improvement.
"It has been phenomenal," Vettel added. "The car wasn't behaving the way we wanted it to, but it has been pretty special, the amount of effort overnight, the support from Maranello.
"Charles has been in the simulator - it swaps between Antonio and Charles - they answered a lot of questions as we didn't have time remaining.
"The guys here, I don't know when they went to bed. The car was a lot better today but I think the conditions... The car came alive throughout the evening, which is mostly the track."
Although championship rival Lewis Hamilton qualified down in fifth, Vettel was staying cautious about the prospects for the race.
"We have a long race," he said. "There are a lot of things that can happen. Grid position here is crucial but still it is a long race. The fact that our car was good this evening is promising for tomorrow.
"I'm not bothered where others are. There are a lot of things we need to get right."
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