Vettel: Ferrari strong in straight-line speed

Sebastian Vettel will start today’s German Grand Prix from pole position. The Red Bull driver won qualifying with a margin of just two thousands of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. Vettel has said Ferrari’s advantage is their straight-line speed at Hockenheim.

In qualifying Sebastian Vettel was the fastest driver in the third and final sector at Hockenheim while Fernando Alonso was the fastest of the two in the second sector. When asked what sector is going to make the difference during the race Vettel answered: "It’s quite different, because obviously in qualifying you are on low fuel whereas at the start of the race or for the majority of the race you are on quite high fuel.

"Yeah, it’s true we are quicker… we are similar in sector one. There are not too many corners, we are quick in the last sector, so it’s good, the corners that we have there, we can use them to maybe build a cushion. There are not too many corners in the second sector, it’s obviously stopping the car and it seems that the Ferrari is very strong there, also in straight-line speed. We have seen in the last couple of races that they are quite quick on the straights which is usually not one of our strengths.

It’s good to be ahead of them, rather than behind, because overtaking would be a bit a more difficult and I think that generally here overtaking is difficult even though you have a nice place into turn six but you have to be close enough first, so it’s good to be up front. The target is to defend the position in the beginning and then once you are in race trim it should be a bit easier."