Vettel: Not possible to finish further than fifth or sixth
- Published on 19 Jul 2020 17:58
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- By: Coilin Higgins
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel believes that the team were only capable of a sixth-place finish during this afternoon's Hungarian Grand Prix, which he managed to finish after losing fifth to Red Bull's Alexander Albon.
Vettel got a good start of the line as Valtteri Bottas struggled ahead to take third on the opening lap, but slipped down the order as the race went on. He recovered to fifth position before a charging Albon took the place in the closing laps to relegate the German to sixth.
Vettel said that the expected performance of the SF1000 was now 'back to normal,' after the two opening rounds in Austria were unable to give the team a clear insight into the car as Vettel hit problems in both races.
Speaking also about the performance of the car during the race, Vettel expressed his belief that the team would not have been able to finish any higher than fifth or sixth given the pace of the cars ahead
"Yeah, it was back to normal," Vettel explained.
"Obviously, Austria one was the outlier and Austria two didn't happen and now we are here. I think, probably today this is where we could have finished, arguably fifth or sixth, but probably not further up."
'Not a surprise' to be lapped by Hamilton
After being asked if it was a surprise to be lapped by race winner Lewis Hamilton during the race, Vettel said that it was obvious that Hamilton would lap him before the race due to the superior performance of the Mercedes W11.
Hamilton led the race for a lights-to-flag victory despite some early worries about engine performance and managed to lap every car on the grid up to Vettel's sixth position.
"No. You are surprised?" Vettel questioned.
"It was already clear he would lap us before the race, so it was not a surprise."
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Replies (5)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Good to see Seb doing a solid drive. However, he still made quite a few mistakes in this race. Locking up, missing the apex and letting Albon by. He was lucky thay Leclerc just got it completely wrong with the strategy
Geekracer2000
Posts: 1
Not true. Vettel lost huge chunk of time having to do one extra lap on inters when he was clearly struggling. Because team decided to pit Lecrerc.
Then he had to wait for passing cars once in pit, being stationary for whole 9 sec if I recall correctly.
Yes he missed apex letting Albon by but still managed to be ahead until, what eight nine laps to go.
But still was way ahead of Lecrerc.
Vettel drove fantastic race today, being under pressure through whole race and still managed to put this car higher in order than it should realistically be.
abhidbgt
Posts: 283
I agree Leclerc got the first pit stop and the decision to put on softs (albeit used one as they couldn't go through qualifying without doing that) was based on better grip in a damp circuit from softs than from mediums. But Leclerc was unlucky that it didn't turn out to be good. After that Leclerc was further unlucky to encounter traffic after putting on hards. Sebastian made the best of the conditions except for that lock up.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Looks like a clear head, and lower expectations are helping him focus again.
Pistonhead
Posts: 556
I thought Seb was very strong and probably he's focussed on reminding what Ferrari are letting go at the end of this season, that should be motivating. RB next season anyone?