Sebastian Vettel retired early in qualifying for the second Formula 1 race in England. The four-time world champion failed on Saturday in his Ferrari in twelfth place in the second knockout round. Vettel missed the top ten for the second time this season. The 33-year-old had been braked the day before by an engine failure. Vettel's bitter farewell tour at the Scuderia continues.
Nico Hülkenberg put in a strong performance in the second qualifying round: The Emmericher achieved the second-best time and is fighting for a good starting position in Q3.
Already in the third free practice session at noon, the Heppenheimer couldn't get past 13th in his Ferrari with a new engine, the four-time champion was 1.190 seconds short of the best time of world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Racing Point part-time worker Hülkenberg, on the other hand, shines in fourth place in the qualifying dress rehearsal (+0.635). Vettel was again clearly beaten by his team-mate Charles Leclerc, who was sixth almost half a second faster. After the engine failure on Vettel's SF1000 in the final phase of Friday training, Ferrari replaced the entire power unit on the Leclerc car as a precautionary measure.
Because this is the first engine change of the season for Vettel and his monegasque stable rival, both drivers can avoid relocating on the grid for the fifth round of the season. There is no penalty for using three specifications per season.
On Sunday (3.10 p.m. / RTL and in the live ticker on ntv.de), Formula 1 will hold its second race in Silverstone within a week. Last weekend, Vettel landed tenth in the no man's land of Formula 1, Hulkenberg could not even start because of a defect immediately before the start of the race.
. (tagsToTranslate) Der (t) Sport-Tag (t) Frühes (t) Quali-Aus (t) Vettels (t) Leiden