Vettel not taking anything for granted despite pole position for European Grand Prix

Vettel earned his third consecutive European Grand Prix pole position after a spectacular last-gasp lap, but is anticipating a difficult race.

"It will be a difficult race and difficult to predict," said Vettel. "We have seen too much this year to sit here on Saturday afternoon and predict what is going to happen. It is easier to predict football than the ranking for the race!

"It will be hotter tomorrow and there will be a lot of cars to look out for. Ferrari is very competitive, Williams is quick, Lotus proved [its speed] in Bahrain.

"This year, grid position is obviously important, but perhaps not as important."

Vettel admitted that he struggled in both Q1 and Q2 and was surprised at being able to take pole position by over three-tenths of a second.

"Q1 and Q2 were not to our liking and we were struggling to find the balance that we had early on this weekend during practice. But we made a good recovery.

"I had to use a second set of options in Q2 as it was very tight and my [first] time was not good enough, but with the second set it was good to go again.

"I knew that in qualifying, if I go at the end and the track comes in a bit more, then it should be good enough for pole. But in the end it was a surprising gap.

"The guys have worked really hard this weekend in the garage to make sure that we brought a couple of new parts to the car. They seem to work and I am looking forward to the race tomorrow."

Vettel is chasing a third consecutive win at Valencia after winning there in 2010 and 2011.