Vettel annoyed to be slowed by Webber

Sebastian Vettel was not able to repeat his 2010 Hockenheim pole on Saturday, qualifying second to Fernando Alonso. The German was frustrated to have been unintentionally baulked by team-mate Mark Webber when on his quickest lap in Q3.

Vettel was seen shaking a hand in Webber’s direction, but later understood that the Australian would have been unable to see in his mirrors because of the spray.

“I wasn’t happy with my lap," Vettel said bluntly in the post-session press conference. “Fernando was a bit quicker with his strategy, so I don’t know whether we would have been quick enough anyway. We looked at what he did and maybe that was the better strategy. Our car isn’t bad if we make sure it is in the right window, so we need to go back and look at what we did in final practice this morning."

When describing the moment with Webber, Vettel said:

“I obviously lost a lap by (almost) running into him but it is difficult to see in these conditions; you can’t see in the mirrors and he probably didn’t see me. I lost a bit of time, for sure, and my last lap – when the track was best – was not completely clean."

As Vettel sets off from the front row, Webber – who is the only man within one race win of Alonso in the championship – is demoted to eighth because of a gearbox penalty.