A disappointed Sebastian Vettel has highlighted that the three-stop strategy – predicted to be the optimum race strategy prior to lights out – was the wrong approach.
With the Mercedes duo colliding on the opening lap, Ferrari were presented with a golden opportunity to take their first victory of 2016. With Fiat President Sergio Marchionne in attendance, it would have been a well-timed return to the top step.
Vettel seemed to be the favourite to snatch victory in the opening stages, having managed to jump Daniel Ricciardo in the pit-stops. Both were on the three stop strategy, but Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen’s pace ahead did not decline in the manner anticipated of the two-stop runners.
In turn, the German spent most of the race using the medium compound tyre, despite the car historically responding better to the soft compound.
As such, third place was the best Vettel could manage.
“We tried everything, so we tried to obviously get ahead in the end, but we were surprised by how superior the two-stop was,” he stated.
“You could see for Daniel and myself that a three-stop wasn’t superior. I had an interesting race. They were quite competitive on medium tyres. They [Red Bull] were more competitive in the third sector.
“With hindsight we decided the wrong way.”
