Vettel left frustrated after losing close fight with Hamilton
Sebastian Vettel may have held onto his World Championship lead in Spain, but the German was left frustrated after he lost to Lewis Hamilton on a day when it could so easily have gone his way.
Vettel led after the start and stayed ahead after his made his second pit stop, but Hamilton was able to get by in the final stint, when the two men were on different tires. The Ferrari ace said he was delighted to be in the fight once again.
“I’m very happy when we have the chance to race Mercedes,” he said. “They have been proving over and over in the last few years that they are the team to beat. We are giving them, so far, a good run for their money. I think we can be very happy – but today we’re not entirely happy because the win was there, the car was quick enough but the way the race happened, it wasn’t meant to be.
“But the most important thing is that we were there: once again fighting; hanging in there; not much missing at the end. The car is good, the team is in great form and we know that we need to improve. We don’t want to battle with them close, we want to be ahead of them. The idea obviously is nice, to have close battles – but you want to have them in your favor at the end of the race, which today wasn’t the case but that’s, as I said, how it goes sometimes.”
Vettel got ahead of Hamilton with a good start and aggressive run into the first corner.
“The start was good. I saw Lewis struggling with wheel spin and so did I, but then I pulled the clutch in immediately, and reacted and tried to set off a second launch phase, which worked excellent. I was looking in the mirror straight away to see if any of the guys behind got a better start, but I think we probably all overestimated the grip, which wasn’t that good.
“First stint, I was really in control. Happy with the car, but it wasn’t easy. Just trying to control the gap, the pace was similar. Then we had to obviously go [into the pits], because otherwise they might go and then you get jumped. I wasn’t sure. I came out right behind Daniel, I believe. The second stint I thought was pretty good, and then Lewis has the luxury to stay out and then think about what to do, and not being in a rush, gap behind, choosing a different tire, which might allow him to come back in the end, which unfortunately was the case.”
In the second stint, Vettel lost time behind Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas, who had yet to stop.
“I was catching him but I knew they wouldn’t pit him. He was all over the place with his tires, so they used him a bit to block me. He still managed to somehow get a decent exit, so I didn’t quite make it the first time round, so the second time round down the straights I thought ‘now, I have to find some way, even if it’s over the grass.’ He used a bit more of the track.
“It was really close. I don’t know what is the word, I faked it on the inside, went back on the outside, and then on the inside to surprise him, which worked, but I nearly lost the car doing that because I had the DRS open and it was a quite aggressive move on the steering wheel.
“So I was really happy, but then equally I looked down and I’d lost an awful lot of time so I wasn’t that happy because the real fight was with Lewis.”
Vettel said he was surprised that when he emerged from his second stop, Hamilton was right with him – the Mercedes driver having gained by pitting just as the virtual safety car car in, this losing less time.
“Then I don’t know what happened in the last stint because I came out of the pits and I was surprised to see him that close because I thought I had eight seconds in hand. It must have been because he stopped a lap sooner or something. So yeah, obviously that could have bought us a bit of a cushion. Then it was nice he stayed behind and I just managed always the end of the straight and I thought it would be more difficult for him the longer he tried.
“But then I had no tow from any car in front and he sailed past. He managed a good exit and he was very quick in the last sector and he went on to win the race. We did everything we could, we tried everything. I think the car was good, nothing to blame there. I think our weekend was a bit scrappy overall. So I think it’s still a very, very good result.”
