Singapore GP: Sebastian Vettel says pole was possible for Red Bull

The German qualified fourth behind the two Mercedes and his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, but reckons that problems in Q1 and Q2, plus a scrappy lap in Q3 robbed him of the chance of the top spot.

"We had a not entirely smooth Q1," explained Vettel. "We didn't time it well.

"We lost one lap and put an extra lap on a set, and in Q2 we went out and decided to come back in.

"Therefore in Q3 we only had one new set of tyres - so not a great build-up.

"But in the end I wasn't entirely happy with the lap I had. I thought there was more, but I was probably pushing a bit too much, and overstepped the mark.

"Then, when you overslip the tyre, you probably go a bit too far and you pay the price in the next corners. And there are a lot of corners here."

Vettel said that the majority of his problems came in sector two.

"It is small things, but it adds up and you never get the grip that you were hoping for in the first place," he said.

"It is difficult to say how much I lost, but I lost some time even to the lap before to a used or scrub set in those corners.

"I don't know how happy other people were with their lap but I think pole was manageable today."

RACE FORM TRICKY

Although Vettel thinks his car is a match for Mercedes around the Marina Bay circuit, he is unsure about what can be achieved in the race.

The fact that the gaps in performance are so marginal, allied to fuel consumption issues with the long race, mean that nothing can be taken for granted.

"I think it will be very tricky tomorrow, because if everyone's pace is like we saw today we are all very, very close to each other," he said.

"If you can go two tenths faster around here, then you will not overtake. So it is not straightforward.

"But the tyres will fall apart at some stage and then create a mess, so that is what hopefully we can wait for.

"And hopefully we are not falling apart before the others are in trouble, but we will see. "