Vettel suffered with his tires at the Spanish GP

Scuderia Ferrari missed the podium for the first time this season. With Kimi Räikkönen's retirement due to a mechanical problem, the team Maranello saw Sebastian Vettel slipping to fourth when she called the four-time world champion back to the pits to make a second stop.

“We had no choice but to stay on track. We wore out our tires faster than our opponents”, explained Sebastian Vettel in the Barcelona paddock.

A bad tire change caused a loss of the few seconds that allowed Max Verstappen (Red Bull) to take third position, even if Ferrari thought they would take advantage of the Virtual Safety Car to lose a minimum of time.

Despite a damaged front wing for Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver managed to maintain the advantage over the German in the final laps.

“We were faster and I had tires in better condition, but I no longer had enough speed as the laps progressed, regretted Sebastian Vettel. We just weren't performing well enough. Even at the end of the race I wasn't really comfortable even though the tires were still in good condition. »

Sebastian Vettel is now 17 points behind Lewis Hamilton after missing the podium since the Bahrain GP where he won his second consecutive victory.

Discover the analysis of the Spanish GP carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2165 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.