Sebastian Vettel felt the podium finish at Silverstone was earned and not down to luck as he jumped ahead of both Williams Martini Racing drivers by judging his pit stop for intermediate Pirelli tyres to perfection on Sunday.
The Scuderia Ferrari driver initially had a bad getaway, losing a few positions at the start and then again at the restart following the safety car, but made up for it with a strong drive in the second half of the race, including passing his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen down the Hangar Straight, and then jumped Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas in the final round of pit stops.
“I had a really bad start, I nearly didn’t get off the line and lost positions,” said Vettel. “At the restart I made up a position, but I lost two as a consequence. It didn’t seem to come together at this point, a bit like the whole weekend for us, but then we were able to turn it around.
“We recovered through strategy, mostly by being very aggressive. I was in touch with the team all the time, it was not easy to take the right decision with the weather.
“But we did a great call to pit just in the perfect lap, made up a lot of ground and finished on the podium. I’m sorry for the people that got wet, but the rain helped us today!
“It was in the end a podium finish that we deserved, as we made the right call at the right time. Williams did a small step forward, for us I think we just didn’t find the rhythm at this weekend. There is plenty of things we have to learn and understand quickly.
“We are not in favour of these hard tyres, but it is the same for everyone, so no excuses allowed. If you look at the gap to the first two cars, it was bigger than normal, so it is up to us to come back for Hungary.”
