Vettel glad one-run gamble paid off

The Red Bull driver secured his fourth pole position of the season, despite deciding to skip his final run in order to save tyres for the race tomorrow.

The decision meant Vettel got out of his car before the end of the session, watching his rivals trying to beat his time.

They failed, however, and the world champion took another comfortable pole position.

Vettel said he was happy to keep a set of tyres for tomorrow, but admitted the feeling of not running again was odd.

"I am very happy with the result. We did not have a trouble-free morning, so we had a bit to catch up. I like the track so that helps and it was nice to see that without that many laps I was able to come back and find the rhythm.

"It was funny because Mark and myself decided to skip the second run. It is strange the feeling. The others are on track and you know they can beat you.

"You can just watch and there is nothing you can do. It is good to save a set of tyres but it is an odd feeling. I'm very happy."

He added: "Of course we talked about it before qualifying, we talked about what can happen, you never know, you don't know how quicker the others will be, how much fuels the others have on board.

"We saw in the last race and in the other races, we see this year the races have changed and important to handle the tyre situation, for both of us after the first run we had the feeling that we might be safe but you never know, you do that again until the day arrived, and other people prove you wrong.

"In the end you never know, if it works you are a hero if it doesn't you are not."

Vettel claimed things were still not perfect for him after missing on Friday running following his crash.

"It not 100% smooth, still things we have to improve and do better, but sitting here now I am happy and pleased after the bad shunt yesterday and the work load I managed to give to all the mechanics, not just mine, it was a pretty big hit and a lot to repair. They did a very good job and I had a fantastic car today."