- British Grand Prix
Vettel refuses to blame team
- Race:
- British Grand Prix
- Championship:
- FIA Formula One World Championship
- Drivers:
- Sebastian Vettel
- Teams:
- Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel refused to blame his Red Bull team after a delayed pit stop cost him the lead during the British Grand Prix.
Vettel was leading from Fernando Alonso when the pair came in to pit on the same lap mid-way through the race. Vettel's left rear wheel gun had a problem, however, and his car had to be jacked up again to attach the tyre, allowing the Ferrari through in to the lead. Vettel rejoined behind Lewis Hamilton too and was unable to pass as Alonso pulled out a substantial gap. Having recovered to second place Vettel said he didn't know how costly the pit stop ultimately was.
"Well I think it's hard to say how much we lost but surely we lost the lead and I think we had quite a bit of a cushion at that stage, so it didn't help," Vettel said. "Obviously I came out behind Fernando and Lewis, and I struggled to get past really. I had some places where I was quite close with him but it didn't quite work so we went in for the stop and obviously had the longer stint at the end but I think all in all we had a good race."
Vettel highlighted the first pit stop - where he stayed out an extra lap on intermediate tyres - and then the delayed stop as errors made by Red Bull, but said Ferrari had been the better team.
"It was very difficult in these conditions; I had a brilliant start and I was able to pull away quite good at the beginning of the race on the intermediate tyres. Then I think we waited a little bit and we weren't that aggressive which cost us a bit of our lead, plus then the pit stop so all in all little mistakes here and there but you cannot get it right all the time.
"I think you have to accept fair and square that Ferrari beat us today. Not only at this race, also I think there has been a certain trend over the last couple of races they have been very strong on race day and generally improving their car. So it shows us that we need to keep on working very hard and keep pushing very hard so that soon it is the other way round again."