- German GP - Race
Fourth the 'best we could get' - Vettel
Sebastian Vettel does not think he could have finished higher than fourth in Hockenheim after an aggressive strategy call allowed him to beat Fernando Alonso into fourth at the German Grand Prix.
In the early stages of the race Vettel and Alonso renewed their battle from Silverstone, with Kimi Raikkonen also involved at one stage as the German passed his two fellow world champions in a breathtaking move down the inside of Turn 6. After losing out to Alonso in the first pit stop window a call to come in early paid dividends for Vettel as he emerged well clear of the Spaniard, eventually able to bring the car home fourth despite late concerns over fuel.
"We started maybe where we left off in Silverstone!" Vettel joked about his tussle with Alonso. "It was quite entertaining the first half of the race and at one point it was quite tight with both the Ferraris, but we managed to stay ahead. The second stop was a bit too close and Fernando was able to pass without too many difficulties, which put us on the back foot, but on the other hand we decided to be a bit more aggressive towards the end and stop earlier make sure we got the undercut this time.
"Fernando this time was on the harder tyre and decided and stayed out, that gave us the opportunity to put a gap between us. That was important for us because we were quite tight on fuel at the end so I think it was the best we could get."
Vettel says Red Bull could have dared to be even more risky with its strategy calls but the team knew it lacked the outright pace to get anywhere close to Mercedes or Williams.
"I would have loved to have been more aggressive today but we didn't have the pace we were hoping for. We didn't see too much of the Mercedes to be honest, they were gone fairly quickly. I kind of stuck to the Williams in the first couple of laps but we started to struggle more with the tyres and Valtteri disappeared - then we didn't see him either! We were fairly isolated racing for third or fourth, then in the end after the first stop I saw Lewis in front of me and it was clear he got through the field pretty quickly."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
