Four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel believes fifth and sixth was the best Ferrari could achieve at the German Grand Prix.
“Fifth and sixth place was the best we could do but we obviously can’t accept that, we will be working to improve and we know what to do, the stuff that’s coming up for the next races has always been part of our plan.”
Vettel says that the team are working flat out and will keep fighting to catch the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS team. Ferrari have fallen behind Red Bull Racing after a lacklustre display at the Hockenheimring but the prancing horse has the resources to beat Red Bull.
Ferrari now sit third in the constructors and are 173 points behind the all-conquering Silver Arrows, Vettel has conceded that it has not been a great first half of the season.
“The first part of the season didn’t go as we wanted, we need to work on ourselves and I, for one, had too many ups and downs which cost me some points. But we’ll keep fighting.”
High tyre degradation and an overall lack of pace meant Vettel could not challenge the cars ahead and with a conservative tyre strategy, fifth was the maximum he could achieve.
“As for today’s race, the decision to fit Softs in the end was a pretty straightforward one, as we had a new set available. I decided to stay out for some more laps as I did not want to go too long with the last set, with hindsight it was probably a too conservative choice as we would have had a chance to put some pressure on the car ahead.”
Driving at his home race Vettel still felt the support of the German fans even though he could only manage a fifth place finish.
“The atmosphere today, with all the German and the Ferrari flags, was incredible and from this point of view it was my best home Grand Prix ever!”
