Vettel hopeful of stronger race pace

Sebastian Vettel is hopeful he will enjoy a stronger race on Sunday after being unable to match the pace of Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber in qualifying

Vettel was outqualified by Webber for the second weekend in a row, as the Australian secured his third pole in six races with a great performance around the street of Monte Carlo.

Vettel had to settle for third position after finishing four tenths of a second behind Webber.

"I think we still did a step forward but probably it will be better in the race than in qualifying," said Vettel. "Now we are third, if they don't crash into the first corner then there won't be a lot of clean air tomorrow.

"You never know, a lot of things can happen, especially with backmarkers, so we will see."

The German admitted he was surprised by the traffic issues he encountered in the final qualifying segment, when only 10 cars were on track.

"It was quite a surprise. Even though there was only 10 cars, there was traffic, so it wasn't ideal for the tyres. When it was clear I couldn't use it.

"All in all still a good result as Mark said, so compliments to the team and Renault. I think there has been some criticism on the power side. We know probably it is not the strongest engine but for sure here it counts a lot with driveability.

"Tomorrow is a long race, lots of things can happen and it's good to be in front, so let's see."