Singapore: Fans may not like it but the drivers who sat out the final phase of Saturday's Singapore Grand Prix qualifying to save their tyres were just playing the game, the top three on the grid agreed on Saturday.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel beat teammate Mark Webber and McLaren's Jenson Button to record his 11th pole position of the Formula One season.
At the same time, Mercedes' Michael Schumacher and the Force India duo of Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta did not even leave the pits once they had secured their places in the top 10 for the third and final phase.
"The main show is generally for teams on the Sunday (race day), so they want to save their tyres," Webber told reporters.
"If we were all flush with tyres, the guys would be out there and getting the experience, getting the laps in and having exposure for their partners as well.
"It's not fair to penalise people who are looking to try and have a good performance in the race," added the Australian.
Button agreed with Webber and felt the drivers concerned knew they did not have the pace to challenge for pole anyway.
"It probably pays to save tyres for the race as we have seen on many occasions this year," the Briton said. "A few guys have come from halfway down the field or even further back with fresh sets of tyres.
"It's the way the regulations are and we are going to try everything we can do to do the best on a Sunday."
World champion Vettel said it all came down to the number of sets of tyres available.
"We have had these rules for quite a while now. Obviously, we might get the occasional race like here where people decide not to run because they want to save their tyres for the race, but that's not the case every time."
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