Sebastian Vettel admitted to a ‘tough day’ in the office after a difficult race at the British Grand Prix.
A gearbox penalty allied to a disappointing qualifying performance landed the German 11th on the grid leaving the four-time world champion to climb through the order.
However, he found himself constantly battling the car and struggled to gain any advantage over the slower cars in front of him, leaving the German in a tasteless ninth place finish at the checkered flag.
Vettel would also be among the many drivers to have a high-speed spin after being the first driver onto slicks, something he said ‘didn’t help’ but added his belief the team’s ‘call to come in the pits was absolutely right’.
After an incident with Felipe Massa, Vettel was handed a five-second time penalty for forcing a driver off the road, speaking about it, he said: “The penalty, in the end, didn’t make a difference, it was not on purpose that I was trying to squeeze Felipe. Actually, I was going out myself, and I was surprised how little grip there was, going side by side with him.
“Clearly today we weren’t as competitive as in other races, but at least we recovered some points. And this was the only race of the year where we weren’t able to beat the Red Bulls in terms of race pace.”
However, Vettel has indicated that Ferrari will be able to pull off a better result in a fortnight’s time at the Hungaroring.
“Clearly today we weren’t as competitive as in other races, but at least we recovered some points. And this was the only race of the year where we weren’t able to beat the Red Bulls in terms of race pace.”
Vettel now finds himself behind teammate Kimi Raikkonen in the Drivers’ standings after the Finn himself could only manage fifth on Sunday.
