Vettel’s FP2 dogged by overly ‘aggressive’ set-up

Sebastian Vettel labeled his second practice session on Friday as “horrible” and caused in part by overly aggressive set-up changes to his Ferrari SF1000.

Vettel concluded his day way down the order in P16 after suffering two spins and running a run on Pirelli’s soft compound.

“We’ve had a mixed day, the first session was okay, the second session was horrible,” said the German.

“We tried something with the car and I think it was very aggressive and probably not what we needed.

“We were happy and we thought it would work but I don’t think it did, so we will see for tomorrow.”

Despite his set-up troubles, Vettel was nevertheless confident of having a shot at Q3 in qualifying.

“I think Q1 should be fine to make it through to Q2, and then I think Q3 could be possible – maybe it’s a little bit better than last week – but I reckon it will be very tight,” he reckoned.

“It’s a short lap, the gaps between the cars are nothing. The midfield has always been tight this year so it will be even tighter.”

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Vettel’s poor FP2 session at least wasn’t hindered by any mechanical issues, which was a luxury that his teammate Charles Leclerc did not enjoy after a driveshaft failure sidelined the Monegasque early on.

But Leclerc was also hopeful of an improvement of the Scuderia’s fortunes on Saturday.

“We were actually better than expected I have to say, and FP2 was also good until the failure on my side,” said Leclerc. “So hopefully it will be a good day tomorrow.”

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