Sebastian Vettel said that his pace in the Brazilian Grand Prix showed that Ferrari have closed the gap to pace-setters Mercedes and warned the Silver Arrows that the Scuderia are “coming”.
The German finished third, his 13th podium of the season, 14 seconds behind race winner Nico Rosberg and just six behind Lewis Hamilton. He showed good pace throughout, and in particular when he made the surprising switch to the soft compound tyre after his second stop, and on average only found himself a couple of tenths off the pace of the leaders.
“For us, we were trying to put them under pressure. we tried something different with strategy, I don’t think it was a bad call, it was the right thing to do and in the end we look very strong. The gap was still there, but closer than in previous races.”
The result extinguished any lingering hopes of piping his countryman Rosberg to second in the championship, but Vettel is optimistic that Ferrari can challenge on a consistent basis sooner rather than later.
“It is a good feeling to be a lot closer but still, being behind is never where you want to be. This time last year was very different, it was a step into the unknown, but I am very thankful for the welcome from the team. A lot of changes went on so it was good we had success at the start of the year to boost the whole project. I have hopes for next year, but Mercedes are strong, they know what they are doing but to cut a long story short, we are coming.”
