Vettel says KERS was vital for pole

The team had decided not to use the device in Australia in order to avoid problems, but despite that Vettel went on to take a commanding pole and victory.

However, with longer straights in Sepang, Red Bull decided to run KERS today, and Vettel finished on top again, although by just a tenth of a second from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

The world champion admitted it has been much harder than in Melbourne and conceded that without KERS, he and team-mate Mark Webber would not have been in the top three.

"I would say so, definitely it was quite a challenging weekend until qualifying," said Vettel.

"I was happy with the car but we never got into a rhythm so yesterday was not as smooth as we hoped for and also this morning we knew we had it in the car, the main thing was believing in it.

"We got criticism last time for not running it [KERS] and we came here and solved most of our problems and I think if we would not have it today then we would not be here, both of us, so it is a great achievement, compliments to those guys. We work hand in had so we are pleased."

Despite just pipping Hamilton to pole following his dominant showing in Australia, Vettel said there was nothing wrong with his car.

The German claimed it had just not been a perfect day.

"It was not a particular problem with the car, nothing broke down. It was not smooth, we did not have the laps we wanted. A little bit of traffic, I did mistakes, so it did not come together as nicely. Now we focus on tomorrow."