Sebastian Vettel remained puzzled after a lacklustre Qualifying session in Canada finishing in P17 after a promising third Practice session.

The German finished FP3 in third place, just half a tenth slower than Fernando Alonso who topped the timesheets at a rain soaked Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

He ultimately slumped to P17 getting knocked out in Q1, while his team mate Lance Stroll set the 18th quickest time.

A dejected Vettel explained to MotorLAT and other media outlets after Qualifying that any potential problem remains unknown and Aston Martin missed an opportunity to capitalise on the weather and move up the grid: “We don’t know yet but it must be something obviously it was so different so it’s disappointing because I think we could’ve had a really good result in these conditions even better than in the dry so we need to have a look.

“It’s too early to say something but given how bad the car felt it's not a surprise that we were so slow but it’s obviously bitter.”

The four-time world champion conceded Aston Martin let a chance to gain a good starting position slip by in a season where points finishes have been hard to come by.

He said: “It’s one of those days where in a wet session with just a car like you want it to you can make a difference and I don’t know what went wrong so we missed that opportunity.”

Vettel is targeting a points finish in the Canadian Grand Prix despite the lack of strategy options available during the 70 lap event.

The German also emphasised the importance of a good start to snatch a point in the race: “It’s the same old game we are probably faster than the cars right ahead of us but we are stuck with them for the beginning.

“And hopefully we can have a good start then we see with strategy you’re not going to be able to do something completely unexpected and come out first but we need to be sharp.

“First of all we need to try and understand what happened whether there’s actual damage or whether we did something wrong in preparing the tyres the lap.

“Then turn the page and race hard tomorrow I still believe we can make some progress and maybe grab a point.”