Sebastian Vettel concerned about lack of pace in Belgium

World champion starts 10th after disappointing qualifying performance in his Red Bull Racing car.

Sebastian Vettel will start 10th today in Belgium.

SPA // World champion Sebastian Vettel acknowledged Red Bull Racing are simply not quick enough after he failed to finish in the top 10 during qualifying for today's Belgian Grand Prix.

The German won here last year from pole, but yesterday missed out on a place in the final top-10 shoot-out session of qualifying by 0.012 seconds.

Although Vettel finished 11th, he will start today's race in 10th after teammate Mark Webber was given a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox mid-weekend. The Australian had finished seventh.

"I was pretty happy with my lap, it was clean, but it just wasn't quick enough unfortunately," Vettel said, adding he was surprised by his car's lack of pace.

"I missed the last part of qualifying by such a little amount and that's a shame, but that's racing. It's frustrating, but it could be the other way around and you are in and somebody else is out. "

Vettel, winner of the drivers' championship for the past two seasons, has found the field to be much tighter and tougher this year.

He dominated in 2011 with 11 race wins to his name, but this year he has only got one victory to his name - a triumph in Bahrain back in April.

Vettel sits third in the standings after 11 races, 42 points behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who will begin the race in fifth.

"Obviously, there are no points for qualifying," Vettel said. "The race is [today] and we've seen in the last races that our car is pretty good in the race, so we will see what we can do."

Vettel's compatriot Michael Schumacher had a similarly dispiriting afternoon under a crisp blue Belgian sky.

Mercedes-GP's seven-time world champion has won here six times, was earlier this week named an honorary citizen of the town and has for many years called Spa his "living room".

However, after struggling for speed throughout the session, the 43 year old finished 13th ahead of his 300th grand prix.

"Well, what a pity," he said. "I am really sorry for my fans, but I am afraid I have to say that I got pretty much everything that we could [out of the car].

"It was not quick enough, and especially in the mid-sector we were too slow.

"We now have to take it as it is and try to do the best we can in the race. We will have further steps coming soon, so we will go on fighting."

Schumacher's teammate Nico Rosberg endured an even less enjoyable experience after being eliminated during the first part of qualifying as he could only clock the 18th quickest time.

Like Webber he too had to have his gearbox changed before qualifying, meaning only Hispania's Narain Karthikeyan will start behind him today as he lines up 23rd

Rosberg said: "Starting from the back of the grid tomorrow is really disappointing, although I had no chance to prepare my car due to the gearbox problem this morning.

"I hope I can gain some positions in the race but I'm not overly optimistic as our car is not one of the quickest on this track. I will definitely push hard."

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& Gary Meenaghan