Vettel admits his mistake at the French GP

Sebastian Vettel stumbled again at the French GP at the Circuit Paul-Ricard, settling for fifth place after being condemned to a comeback race. The pilot Ferrari started from third position before hitting the rear of the Mercedes de Valtteri Bottas.

The Ferrari driver had to pit at the end of the first lap to change his front wing and had to move up the positions from last place, while receiving a five-second penalty by the stewards.

“My departure was a little too good, explained the four-time world champion. I found myself with no place to go. It's my fault. I tried to brake early, but I had no grip with the cars so close to me. Valtteri tried to recover his position (2nd), which is quite normal. I tried to slow down but with so little grip I couldn't avoid contact with Vallteri. »

Kimi Räikkönen was able to salvage a third place on the podium for Ferrari, but Sebastian Vettel now finds himself 14 points behind Lewis Hamilton.

“We had a good rhythm, admitted the German. I tried to attack hard to get back into the game, but it's hard to see the real potential of each other because everyone has different tires and I ended up with fresher tires than the others. . I think we could at least fight with the Mercedes. »

Scuderia Ferrari finds itself 23 units behind Mercedes after the French GP, but it will be able to take its revenge next week with the Austrian Grand Prix contested on the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.

Discover the analysis of the French GP carried out by our special correspondents in AUTO issue 2171hebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.