• Spanish Grand Prix

Vettel held on for three-stop too long

Sebastian Vettel finished fourth behind the Ferraris and Kimi Raikkonen © Getty Images

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• Race:
• Spanish Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Sebastian Vettel

• Teams:
• Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel says Red Bull didn't maximise its strategy in the Spanish Grand Prix but can still be pleased with fourth place.

Having started third, Vettel's challenge faded fairly early on in the race as the Ferrari's of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus eased away from the Red Bull. Vettel said it was not a frustrating result for Red Bull, but that it should have switched to a four-stop strategy earlier in the race.

"I won't talk about frustration; we still finished fourth and got some good points," Vettel said. "Surely we wanted more but today we just didn't have the tyres to fight with the guys in front. The start was good and the beginning of the race didn't look too bad but then I think we tried to hold on to the three stop a little bit too much and had to admit towards the end that we won't make it.

"So I think after all we can be happy with fourth. Surely there is a little bit more - not pace - but there is a little bit more we need to do looking after the tyres."

Vettel also said Red Bull didn't need to make the car any quicker than it already is, but needs to focus on better preserving the Pirelli tyres.

"I think our car is quick enough to match them any day, but if you talk about a race distance and especially on these tyres it's a different game. So I think the car's quick enough - as I said - but there's something that we probably do to the tyres that makes the tyres wear more. The best example is probably the Mercedes; quite quick in qualifying but no good in the race, simply because they're too aggressive to the tyres. From a car point of view the car is quick enough for us and probably for them, but there are a couple of teams that keep doing a better job when it's about the tyres."

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