Sebastian Vettel admitted he would have preferred to end the season with another podium finish but was more than happy to climb through the field to finish fourth in Abu Dhabi, especially after starting down in fifteenth.
The Scuderia Ferrari driver made amends for his qualifying misjudgement to ascend eleven places from his starting slot, and admitted he was always playing catch up after losing so much time in the opening phase of the race.
“Obviously I would have loved to get the podium again, but I think today’s result was the best possible one for us as a team,” revealed Vettel. “I lost quite a lot of time at the beginning and then kept playing catch up until the end.
“The pace was good, especially in the first and final stint, the car was also good and I managed to do some overtaking. I was very happy, it was good fun.”
Vettel also reflected on a ‘miracle season’ he has enjoyed with the Italian team, having taken three race wins and secured third place in the championship behind the Mercedes duo, and hopes for more improvement in 2016.
“I think we can be very happy for this season,” insisted Vettel. “Of course the last step to catch the Mercedes will also be the hardest one, but if you think about where we were only one year ago, this has been a miracle season.
“I can’t think of any other team which improved so much over a year. Big smiles are going around in our garage and for next year we want to increase the amount of smiles.
“I’m very happy to have joined the team in this moment and to have had an opening year with Ferrari like I had. Hopefully we’ll have many more good ones coming.”
