Vettel: I can still win on Sunday

The German was bumped out of qualifying after the rain-delayed Q1 after his strategy was scuppered by a worsening of the weather.

But the Red Bull Racing driver, who is 16 points behind Jenson Button in the title race with two rounds to go, says that it's not over yet despite needing to finish first or second in Sunday's race.

"I think it would be much nicer to start from the front but that is not the case," Vettel told the BBC. "That's life, we have to accept but I think there have been other people winning from those kind of grid positions at the back.

"Obviously it is much harder, we will see tomorrow the weather. In the dry we are very competitive, in the wet we should be also as well. It's not a question of pace, more a question of timing.

"Now we are in the back so for sure when we start tomorrow the knife will be between our teeth and we will try to do our best."

Vettel admitted that his car was not best-suited to the rain as it became heavier late-on in Q1, and was frustrated enough to slam his steering wheel down on his car when he returned to the pits at the end of the session.

"I think I went to the pool not to the race track today," he said. "Obviously it's extremely disappointing, we were targeting to qualify much higher. That's life.

"There was a window where the circuit was quickest but we couldn't use it. We struggled a bit with traffic here and there, and then after when we had clean air it started to rain more heavily and that's it.

"It's a shame there wasn't much missing, it was just a question of the right timing."

Rain continued to delay the qualifying session, with more than 12 minutes still remaining in Q2.