SEBASTIAN VETTEL SAYS he was not surprised to be on pole position in Abu Dhabi despite the problems he had suffered during practice.

The German – already confirmed as world champion – equalled Nigel Mansell’s record of 14 poles in a season by fending off the challenge of Lewis Hamilton.

Vettel admitted to feeling uncomfortable during practice but insisted that there was ‘no magic’ to the turnaround at the Yas Marina circuit.

“I don’t know, there is no box in the car that I open and get it from,” he said of his performance in qualifying. “To be honest I would not say I’m surprised, but we expected to be closer than in practice, much closer.

“McLaren were very quick straightaway yesterday in particular and I wasn’t happy with car. I wasn’t happy with myself. Overnight we tried to find out where the problem was. I think this afternoon it was already quite a bit better, but this is a tricky place with different conditions.

“In Q2 we were quite close to reaching Lewis and we thought in Q3 we would have a chance. In the first run in Q3 I pushed a bit too hard, but in the last run I was able to have a good start in the lap.

“When I crossed the line I looked up to the monitor and I couldn’t read the laptime, but the green was good so I was very pleased.”