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Jean-Eric Vergne labelled today’s qualifying session as a “missed opportunity” after the French driver qualified in 18th place. He further said that he could have finished in the top five in dry conditions.
Vergne appeared to be the dark horse after finishing in top 5 in second and third practice session of the Belgian Grand Prix. However, a decision of not changing to new intermediates or dry slick tyres in qualifying backfired as the 23-year-old, along with his teammate, got eliminated in Q1.
Meanwhile, Bianchi, Chilton and Van der Garde all switched to slick tyres and progressed into Q2.Vergne said: “What happened today is easy to explain, it was just a team mistake. These things shouldn’t happen, but everyone gets it wrong now and again.
“It is very frustrating, as the car has been good enough this weekend to qualify really well in either the wet or the dry. As soon as I left the pits for the second time, I knew I was in trouble and I also had a bit of trouble with traffic, with some cars on slicks around me.
“Therefore, this was a clear missed opportunity, as I believe I could have been in the top five in the dry and the car was clearly working well in the wet too.
However, the Toro Rosso driver remained optimistic and is aiming to score a few points for the team in tomorrow’s race.
“It’s going to take me a bit of time to get over the disappointment, but now there is no use getting angry and, in any case, I really believe I can still have a good race tomorrow and score some points,” he concluded.
