Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel continued the 2017 Formula One World Championship battle with his main rival Lewis Hamilton during the Spanish Grand Prix, which took place last weekend in Barcelona. The four-time F1 champion started in second place, but made a perfect start at the Circuit de Catalunya, managing to overtake Hamilton into the first corner.
Sebastian lead for most of the Grand Prix, but ultimately the Scuderia Ferrari had to settle for second place, as Seb finished the race on the slower tyre and did not have any track advantage as he came out from the second pit stop, with Hamilton who eventually went past the Ferrari driver to take the race victory in Spain and close the gap in the Formula 1 Driver Standings.
However, Sebastian does not think that a different strategy would have changed the outcome of the Maranello team’s position at the Spanish Grand Prix: “I don’t think the pit stop decision is to blame – I think we did the right thing on strategy, but the problem is that we made eight seconds disappear for the second stop. If you add that and being held up by Bottas it’s about 12 seconds and it would have been a bit better for the last parte of the race, but that’s how it goes sometimes.” – the Ferrari driver explained, as reported by Italian newspaper La Stampa.
The two title contenders for the 2017 Formula One season were side-by-side as Sebastian came out of the pits, brushing tyres, which saw the Mercedes driver forced off the track: “It was very close when we came out, yes. You come out on fresh tyres and I was just guessing what was going to happen. I wanted to stay ahead but I was just guessing on the brake point. It worked for the moment, there was no room for him. Unfortunately once we passed the lapped cars there was nothing I could do to keep him behind.” – Sebastian Vettel concluded.
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