Sebastian Vettel rued a costly error by his Ferrari team after he was surprisingly knocked out at the first stage of qualifying for Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Vettel, the four-time world champion, will start only 16th at the Yas Marina Circuit after Ferrari miscalculated the cut-off time required to make it through to Q2.
It leaves the German facing the uphill task of ending his debut season with Ferrari, which has yielded three victories, on a high.
"I should have done a quicker lap and we could have made it, but in that moment we thought it was enough," said Vettel.
"It wasn't and obviously it was quite costly, but we know what happened and now we have to start the race from further back. That is the challenge now.
"We try every weekend to do our best, and this weekend we did not get it right. It is a small mistake with a big consequence."
Vettel, a three-time winner here, has experience of fighting back through the field in Abu Dhabi after his qualifying lap for Red Bull in 2012 was disqualified.
He subsequently started from the pit-lane but turned in one of his greatest-ever displays to finish third en route to claiming his third world championship.
"I think we have to be awake, we have to be ready and I think you can overtake - even if sometimes it is not easy, it is not impossible," said Vettel when asked about his prospects for Sunday's race.
"There are a lot of cars ahead of us that should not be ahead of us, but it is up to us to turn it around.
"Hopefully we can clear them, and it is a long race so maybe we can do something with the strategy."
Vettel's Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen will start from third behind pole-sitter Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
Source: PA
