Ferrari Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel says he ꦑwas left “playing catch-up” after a risky approach to𝄹 his final run in Singapore Grand Prix qualifying failed to pay off.

Vettel had sat on provisional pole position after a strong opening lap in Q3 but teammate Charlesꦜ Leclerc hit back with a 1m36.217s 🌼to outpace Vettel by two-tenths and claim his fifth pole of the season.

The German, who has been out-qualified b♛y Leclerc at the last seven races, aborted his final lap after an error-strewn effort, leaving him third on the grid after Lewis Hamilton pipped him to 🎀the front-row by just 0.029s.

“It started off very good and then the last run I think I had already in sector one lost a bit then was playing catc🐭h-up,” Vettel explained.

“Trying to take more a🐽nd mo🤪re risks throughout the lap which didn’t pay off and then the last lap obviously didn’t come together.

“I think overall it’s a good result for us, putting the car first and third for the team is great. It wasn’t ไa track where we expected to 🤪be so strong.

“So I’m happy with that, but not at the end of Q3. The car was good today and pole was up for g💫rabs, but we’ll see tomorrow.”

Asked whether he felt pole would have been possible had he been able to pull off a perfect lap, Vettel r🐎eplied: “Well I didn’t do it, so obviously it’s all ifs and so on.

“I think the lap time🍨 was poss♛ible. I thought the first run was a good reference but sector three I had quite a bit of lap time in hand, and parts in sector two.

“In the l🀅ast attempt I lost the car a little bit through Turn 3 in sector one, and then again in Turn 9. From that point onwards I was a little bit down compared to previous laps and was tryingꦅ to catch up, probably pushed a bit hard. As simple as that.

“Then I had a bigger mistake at Turn 18 so there was quite a bit of lap time los⭕t. The car was good, I felt good, just a shame I didn’t put together the last attempt in Q3 but I think it was there today.🐽”

Vettel felt “not much” had changed for Ferrari overnight in Singapore despite struggling to match its rivals for pace throughout Friday practice, though he suspects cooler temperatures helped his SF🎀90 “cܫome alive faster”.

“Obviously yesterday we suffered with a lack of fron🎶t grip,🌳 so we tried to put more front in the car,” he said.

“Tonight when the temperatures dropped it seems to come alive faster, I think that’s the biggest difference, in terms of spec 🌠the same as yesterday.”