
The German insists that being dethroned is not a massive loss as he is still on the front row, and has an extra set of soft tyres available to him for Sunday's 66-lap race.
"I don't think we can speak of big disappointment," said Vettel.
"At the end of the day we made a good step forward and Barcelona is usually a place where you bring lots of parts, and find out they work.
"In Q1 I didn't get into the rhythm immediately but made it on prime tyres, in Q2 I felt happier on the soft compound and in last qualifying I lost a little bit too much, wasn't happy with my lap.
"We had some problems and Mark did a good job. It was between us, he did a better job today. Tomorrow is a long race, we saved a set of tyres - as did the top three and Jenson (Button) - we will see what we can do tomorrow."
But while Vettel may have qualified in second place, Red Bull's Achilles Heel was once again present in Spain as the German lacked KERS for the better part of qualifying.
However, he says that's not the reason he lost to his team-mate and expects Red Bull will have the issue resolved before the race gets underway.
"I didn't use KERS in Q2 and Q3, but it's not right to say I didn't have KERS and Mark got pole - he deserved pole.
"I am not afraid in the race, in the race I think we will be on top of it again. In the end it seems to be an endless story.
"The guys are pushing very hard, we did an exceptional job. Today we have proved our car has become quicker, we had a quick base but we made it even quicker - so big compliments to the aero guys."
Source: Planet-F1