F1: Ferrari duo say mistakes cost third

Ferrari Formula 1 team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen both reckoned third place on the Australian Grand Prix grid was within reach.

The German and Finn were edged out for best-of-the-rest behind Mercedes in the closing stages of the session by Williams driver Felipe Massa. Both Ferrari drivers reckoned that small errors on their part had proved decisive.

Australian Grand Prix qualifying report

Vettel, who lined up fourth, thought he should have done a better job on his first set of tyres in Q3.

"Felipe nailed the lap. I think it was in reach on the first set, and ideally it should have been a bit quicker, but it wasn't," he said. "That was down to me. The second shot in terms of strategy we could have done things differently, but all in all it was a very good result to have both cars in the top five."

Fifth fastest Raikkonen said he had lost valuable time when he got Turn 3 slightly wrong on his final lap.

"I had quite a big mistake, three tenths in corner three, and messed it up the next two corners," he explained. "The rest of the lap was pretty good and I caught up with the lap time, but it was pretty much done.

"We should have been in P3 but that is how it is. And probably we would have been one second behind Mercedes."

Raikkonen remains upbeat about Ferrari's grand prix prospects following a strong race run in Friday practice.

"We knew we cannot fight with them [Mercedes] in qualifying, but yesterday we had pretty good long run," he said. "Tomorrow the weather plays a big part, but like last year we are more confident with the race pace and this year we improve a lot overall.

"So it is a bit disappointing to have a mistake and start in P5, but I think we can still do a good race."

Originally on Autosport.com