Sebastian Vettel's misstep

Sebastian Vettel seemed to lack pace throughout the weekend at the Nürburgring. The pilot Red Bull missed the front row of the starting grid for the first time this season, and he signed his worst result by failing to reach the podium. If the reigning World Champion still has 77 points ahead of his teammate Mark Webber and 82 over Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), winner of the German GP, ​​he is worried about this return to competitive form.

The German could have even finished in fifth place, narrowly gaining a pit position on the last lap when he was unable to gain the upper hand on the Ferrari by Felipe Massa. “It felt good to come out in front of Felipe. It was a good thing to see the Ferrari stopped?, comments Sebastian Vettel. “I think we were both at the limit at the end of the race. »

However, the progress of his rivals has become more pressing since these last two races, the German hopes to be able to quickly regain the advantage. “Fourth place was probably the best I could do”, told the Red Bull driver to the BBC. “We need to work more on our car in order to return to the podium, and perhaps even to the highest step. We have to accept that others were faster than us today and I'm really not happy with that. I didn't feel comfortable all weekend, I never found the pace that Mark (Webber) had. »

Discover the analysis of the German GP by our special correspondents at the Nürburgring in your AUTOhebdo magazine, on newsstands from Wednesday.