Sebastian Vettel recovered to fifth during the Brazilian Grand Prix but only after a great recovery drive after an early spin saw him fall as low as fifteenth.
The Scuderia Ferrari driver admitted it was a tough day in the office that involved a lot of bravery and concentration in extremely tricky conditions, but felt that he could have finished higher but for the delay in passing Carlos Sainz Jr while the duo battled for fourth before Max Verstappen caught and passed them both.
“Obviously, today it was not ideal: in the first part of the race I span, I had some aquaplaning but I wasn’t the only one,” said Vettel. “I think it was a good recovering in the end, it was difficult to come back.
“I struggled to get past Sainz: I don’t know why it took me a lot of laps before I really started to feel well in the car, and then it was too late.”
Vettel reflected on the move that saw Verstappen get ahead at Junção, and felt that the Dutchman did not leave him adequate room as the Red Bull Racing driver pushed the German onto the kerbs.
“About the duel with Verstappen, I think I was racing side by side to him and he saw me,” said Vettel. “I still had a little bit of my nose ahead, he was much faster so it was about making the corner and he got past.
“Not a difficult passing manoeuver, but I don’t think it was fully correct. But I wouldn’t complain about anything today: I think I was not the only one who got caught out by the aquaplaning, but luckily I didn’t crash.”