Vettel: “The choice of Mercedes was obvious”

Sebastian Vettel lost once again at the Russian GP, ​​sending his rival for the title Lewis Hamilton sign an 8th victory this year and increase their lead to 50 points. The pilot Ferrari had briefly taken the advantage over the Briton by implementing a better strategy, but the Mercedes W09 quickly regained the upper hand.

It was however Valtteri Bottas who was leading the race and dominating his subject in Sochi, but the Finn had to give up his position to his teammate after receiving team instructions.

If the order was poorly received by the public and made Sebastian Vettel's task even more complicated, the German understood this decision and even began to defend the star-studded team.

“(Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas) deserve my congratulations. They played a very good team game. I know you like controversy and you like to ask them nasty questions, he said after the race. I think that given their situation today, their choice was obvious. Not all questions asked may be justified. »

Is Sebastian Vettel playing the “fair play” card or is he anticipating a similar situation in his team, with his teammate Kimi Räikkönen not in a position to interfere in the title race?

“We had a small chance of finishing ahead of Lewis but we have to be satisfied with this 3rd place. I still believe in our chances. Everything could suddenly change with one abandonment, or ideally two. I don’t wish it on Lewis, but anything can still happen.”, added the Ferrari driver who still has 5 Grands Prix to catch up with the Briton.

Discover the analysis of the Russian GP carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2185 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.