Australia: Vettel doesn't blame Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel was well on his way to winning the Australian Grand Prix. The pilot of the Team Ferrari had taken the lead in the race to put out the lights, taking advantage of the poor start of the Mercedes, but the four-time world champion was caught by Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton by remaining on soft tires unlike the drivers of the star team who switched to medium tires during the red flag following the crash of Fernando Alonso.

“I was hoping to win this race,” recognizes the German. “My start was fantastic and my pace remained good. We were disadvantaged by the red flag and surprised by Mercedes' strategy which opted for medium tyres. Maybe we could have tried something else, but I don't blame anyone. It's a shame that the other car didn't finish the race, but the weekend remains positive. »

Sebastian Vettel, who almost took the advantage over Lewis Hamilton at the end of the race before going out on the grass, remains positive despite this disappointment after having put up a good fight against the Silver Arrows.

“We are definitely closer than last year.”, adds the Ferrari driver who expected better performances in the race than in qualifying. “It was one of the worst circuits for us. We thought we would be more competitive than that in qualifying, but this session was difficult. »

His teammate Kimi Räikkönen was less successful since he retired following a mechanical problem.

Discover the analysis of the Australian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2055 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.