Sebastian Vettel Q&A: ERS problems a mystery

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel believes he could have taken P3 on the Monaco grid - ahead of team mate Daniel Ricciardo - had it not been for the intermittent ERS problem that affected his RB10 during qualifying. Now his race prospects could be decided by whether the team can get to the bottom of the issues overnight…

Q: Sebastian, you are starting not only behind the Mercedes and also behind your team mate Daniel Ricciardo again. Are you starting to have nightmares about him?

Sebastian Vettel: Ha, no, not at all. He’s doing a good job. Overall I think that it was a bit of a disappointing day for us as in the middle of Q1 problems with the ERS surfaced and didn’t have full power until the end of Q3. ERS simply didn’t boost as it should have done. Why it happened is still somewhat of a mystery and we will have to evaluate the data this evening. Looks like a long night.

Q: Was ERS an issue all weekend?

SV: No, no - it only surfaced this afternoon and believe me we tried many things [to fix it], but the problem stayed.

Q: Did the yellow flag at the end of Q3 have any influence on your grid position?

SV: Hard to say. Of course I tried to do something in the last sector, but if it really would have had an influence on the grid position, who knows?

Q: Are you still satisfied with how it went today?

SV: The only important thing for me is that the balance is good and that the pace was there. Of course when looking at the time sheet the Mercedes are still a bit further ahead than we had thought, as our idea was that if things work out well and without problems we would have a shot at the front row - but unfortunately ERS crossed our plans.

Q: What’s the strategy for tomorrow then?

SV: Depends if we can solve our issue. As everybody knows overtaking is an almost impossible thing so have to think outside the box to get something going. Without the ERS issue I think that P3 would have been possible - which would have meant starting from the inside, which, with a good start could have meant probably catching one of the Mercedes. Now it’s starting on the outside which is not really great heading for the first corner - but that is now water under the bridge.

Q: What is possible in terms of result?

SV: How would I know? Of course I want to get a good result - and without the issue I had hoped to give the Mercedes a hard time. Now it is all about making the most out of our chances and grabbing them whenever possible.