...Edited to add: But the RBs are very slow on the straight. Might be an issue.
His top speeds (at the three checkpoints) were 7th, 18th and 11th in the qualies because his 7th gear was too short. But because he already was starting in pit lane, there was no further penalty to changing gear ratios, so they used the opportunity to re-gear him. During the race, he was 10th, 2nd and 1st, and even the 10th place was < 3 kph out of first.
The second checkpoint was the fastest on the circuit (> 310 kph) and he was 1.3 kph behind Senna but 1.1 faster than Alonso, who was 5th at that check.
Another stroke of the Vettel luck.
