Sebastian Vettel considered the podium accessible

Sebastian Vettel tried to pass Romain Grosjean at the start taking advantage of his advantageous position on the clean side of the track, but the Lotus driver managed to maintain the advantage by staying on the inside into the first corner. The reigning double world champion even lost a position to Jenson Button (McLaren) which slowed down the German during his first stint. Red Bull carried out a good strategy by putting soft tires on the German with a third stop made on the 58th lap, the RB8 returning like a cannonball to Romain Grosjean's third place.

But the driver of the Austrian team finally failed at the foot of the podium with only a second behind the Frenchman. Nevertheless, he believes his RB8 had the potential to claim a place in the top three. “I think our speed was better than our result suggests.”, comments Sebastian Vettel who is only two points behind his teammate Mark Webber, eighth in the race. “I got stuck behind Jenson (Button) in my first stint, he was slower and I lost time. I couldn't just stop and come out with a clear trail because there was a lot of traffic. We didn't have much to do. The tires weren't too bad towards the finish but we thought we had to try something because the tires of the car in front of me (the E20 of Romain Grosjean) could collapse, but that didn't happen. My race speed was good, so it’s up to us to improve our pace in qualifying and at the start. »

Discover the analysis of the Hungarian GP in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.