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"With the other tyre choice we were also in good shape, but of course here quite often the safety auto comes out and we reacted at the same time", he said.

Vettel has only once won the Chinese GP before in 2009 for Red Bull, while Ferrari have not been victorious in Shanghai since Fernando Alonso took the flag in 2013.

"That was just bad", said former F1 champion Nico Rosberg of the incident.

"Today was a really bad day for Max".

Bottas withstood late pressure from Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen to finish second but after the race his thoughts were on an opportunity lost.

Vettel, who put in an error-strewn first attempt, then pulled out just enough through the final corners to deny the 38-year-old what would have been his first pole since last year's Monaco Grand Prix.

"I could see them struggling on the tyres", Verstappen explained on the phone.

"That was of course my fault".

Verstappen's Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo added, "Ferrari has had really good pace all weekend and I can't say honestly now that we're going to have their pace tomorrow, but Mercedes definitely look within reach". I knew I had a bit more in me, because on the first run I had two moments.

"I don't think I necessarily need to change a lot of things", he said. It happened very quickly, but it was a decisive, winning move. Right now I am not thinking about the Ferraris, but I am trying to understand why we don't have the pace.

Hamilton left China nine points behind Vettel, who finished eighth. "I was expecting him to come earlier", Vettel said. They were just too fast on the fresh tyres so I didn't want to compromise my race to the guys behind.

Verstappen, on fresh soft tyres, attempted an overtake on the championship leader for third place at the hairpin on lap 43 but locked up, ramming into the Ferrari. "It's going to be a long race, we try to stay out of any issues and then see how it goes".

"I guess he misjudged and obviously sort of compromised both of our results". Again, this can happen to you when you've done 300 races. "Inside the vehicle judgements are very hard to make", Vettel told Sky F1.

"You mustn't forget that inside the auto the judgements are very hard to make but you have to ultimately have these things in mind and make sure you don't crash". He could have easily taken his front wing off or got a puncture, whatever. The Ferrari driver finished half a second ahead of both Bottas and Hamilton at a track where, until yesterday, you had to go back to 2011 for the last time a non-Mercedes auto occupied the front slot on the grid.