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Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel says there are "no secrets" as to why he failed to qualify inside the top 10 for the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver failed to graduate from the second segment of qualifying by just under two tenths of a second, after setting only the 13th fastest time in Q2.

The German will start 12th on account of a grid penalty for Sergio Perez, but feels he could not have done much more to go quicker.

"There are no secrets - I think generally it's been quite tight, but [I was] not quick enough to go amongst the fastest group of cars," Vettel said.

"Basically I did the same lap twice so it's not as if there was a lot left [in the tank].

"There's always the feeling when you cross the line that you should have been a bit better here or there, but arguably not enough to get me through.

"We get an extra set of tyres for tomorrow and hopefully that will help us to move up.

"I think generally on pace it will be tricky but I think there is a chance to pass other cars."

Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo outqualified Vettel for the sixth time in eight races and ended up fifth on the grid, but was surprised Red Bull has struggled to be competitive around the Red Bull Ring so far.

"We were a bit surprised, we didn't expect to be fighting that hard to get top five and make it into Q3," Ricciardo said.

"I'm not really sure why - I think credit to the other teams, they've found some pace, and it's the second sector with the few fast corners where we thought we would have more of an edge, but they're pretty much onto us.

"I hope some have put all their eggs in the qualifying basket. We weren't able to get the tyres turned on as quick as other teams, [so] we chose to do two more out-laps just to try and get the tyres ready.

"In terms of long runs and with a bit more track temperature tomorrow it should come towards us, but today I think the top guys were able to extract a bit more from the tyres."