Infiniti Red Bull Racing F1 Team/ Clive Mason ©
Yesterday in an interview with ESPN F1, Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettelsays he was confused by a lack of pace in the first half of United States Grand Prix as he fought back from a pit lane start to finish seventh in Austin.
A power unit change enforced Vettel’s penalty but gave the four-time world champion the chance to work solely on his race set-up in practice. But the encouraging pace found in those sessions failed to materialise early in the race, with an irritated Vettel telling Red Bull he was confused by why he was two seconds slower than he had been during his long runs in practice.
A late switch to the soft tyre allowed Vettel to storm through a train of cars for seventh, exactly the position he said he would be happy with on Saturday, and in his interview with ESPN F1 yesterday, Vettel feels satisfied with the end result given his tough start. Vettel stated the following:-
‘I think results-wise it’s OK. In the end, I think especially P5 was out of reach. P6 with Fernando, I don’t know if he had a problem at the end or was just going slow but, all in all, result-wise it was OK.
‘The first half of the race was very difficult; we were not quick at all, struggling to match what we did in practice. In the second half the situation seemed to turn around a bit and we were in a better place.’
As Vettel says, finishing seventh despite all the troubles he suffered over the weekend is a credible result and the best that he could have hoped for from the weekend. It would seem that Vettel had a race of two halves and struggled in the first half of the race for performance but in the second half, he was much better and able to fight his way through the field to finish seventh which is a result he was okay with all things considered.
An early safety car saw Vettel pit twice in an optimistic strategy call which involved stretching out the final stint, which the world champion was ultimately unable to do. But Vettel says further on in his interview that the Red Bull team did exactly what it had planned in the event of an early safety car. Vettel added the following:-
‘Obviously you always go quicker on the softs but first of all, with the safety car, it was always the plan to do what we did. We had nothing to lose. And then we tried to complete the race in two halves – didn’t work, and that’s why we had to come in and pit for the soft tyres again which in the end was about the same.’
It would appear that the strategy that Vettel made during the race yesterday was indeed planned and he is right in saying that he had nothing to lose and everything to gain from it. And Vettel did gain from it even though he had a difficult race especially in the first half by finishing in seventh place.
Vettel had a fresh power unit at his disposal in the race but says in the latter stages of his interview of his difficulty to pass cars early on was nothing to do with the engine. Vettel said the following:-
‘It should be the best [engine] we ever had. On the straights were fine, obviously we were running very, very little wing. It was difficult to pass but I think for that it worked, if you look at global pace, for sure more downforce would have been quicker but we knew that.’
From what Vettel has stated in his interview, it is clear that he expected more from the fresh Renault engine this weekend. But Vettel knows that it was difficult to pass on circuit especially with him running very little wing on his RB10 during the race weekend. But you would agree with Vettel and say that running very little wing did help him achieve seventh but would have liked more downforce which he believes would have made him a little bit quicker.
But overall, despite the troubles that Vettel encountered in his own words “race of halves”, to finish seventh is not too shabby at all. Vettel battled his way through the grid to finish seventh which is the best that he could have hoped for in Austin this weekend and he should be happy with that.
But it is clear that even though Vettel is okay with this result, this is not what he wants to achieve and will be looking in the final two races to push for the best possible result on track and end his season on a high and also his relationship with the Red Bull team too with many people hoping that is the case.
