Formula 1

Sebastian Vettel: “It was not a ‘clean’ day in the office today”

1 Mins read
Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd.

Sebastian Vettel describes the opening day of practice for the Monaco Grand Prix as ‘scrappy’.

The morning session went well for the Scuderia Ferrari driver after he finished behind the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS duo in third with a fastest time of 1:15.956. The success didn’t follow into the afternoon though for the German after being in two different incidents. Damage was sustained to his rear wing when he locked up, span and then backed into the barrier at Mirabeau.

When he returned to the track after the change of rear wing, he tapped the back end at Ste Devote. It wasn’t until he pitted that the team found there was damage to the wheel rim. He finished the session behind the Sahara Force India of Sergio Perez in ninth, with a time of 1:16.269.

Even after these incidents, Vettel is not worried for Saturday, believing their focus on Wednesday was not ranking high up on the timesheets.

“It was not a “clean” day in the office today,” said Vettel. “Our session was a bit scrappy: I touched the wall, damaged the rear wing, but luckily we were able to fix it and carry on.

“I just didn’t get everything out of the car, couldn’t find the rhythm and didn’t do good laps on the Ultrasoft tires. If you look at the standings, we don’t belong where we scored today. But overall the car is good and has the pace.

“So I am not worried for Saturday. Today our focus was not towards ranking high up, we tried a couple of things and it is fair to say that some of them didn’t work. Being the first practice day, it is also difficult to see what other people did.”

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