Despite using a new chassis this weekend, Sebastian Vettel’s crisis of confidence continued during qualifying for the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver struggling to come to grips with a car that is proving to be more donkey than prancing horse.
Nevertheless, Seb was simply out of sorts, compared to teammate Charles Leclerc who was anything up to half a second up on his teammate on just about all runs so far this weekend.
“I am trying to everything I can,” admitted the four times F1 World Champion after qualifying in Barcelona. “The car started to be more and more nervous. Turn 5 was also very tricky for me. It got better towards the end but still tricky to find the right balance.
“It’s all very close together and if you don’t have the speed it’s hard to be in the right place. I always keep my head up, even though there is little reason for that at the moment.
“There are some things I can’t put an answer to but I am trying to do everything I can and ignore the things that may not be right,” explained Vettel in the TV pen.
Stats show that in Q1 the German was three tenths down on his teammate, in Q2 the gap was a quarter of a second in favour of the Monegasque.
Vettel is out of contract at a time when his form is at the lowest it has ever been, mistake-prone and vulnerable in the heat of battle, he will have his work cut-out on Sunday, starting in the midfield minefield where he is never comfortable.
Nevertheless, he knows he needs a good race, with a strong result for his confidence and, at the same time, shut-up the mounting critics, provided he can survive Turn 1, of course.