Scuderia Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was pleased with his efforts during this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, considering he started all the way down at the back of the grid, after a suspension failure on the SF16-H hampered his qualifying session.
The German was hoping that a safety car later in the race would help him progress through the field more quickly, but luck was not to be shining on the four-time world champion at Marina Bay, and he had to create his own fortune instead.
“We sure had a good strategy today, also we had the chance to make a big progress with a safety car, but it didn’t come, so P5 is a very good result.
“Thanks to the team. I had been a bit down after qualifying yesterday. What nobody wanted to happen has happened, so we had to deal with it and move on.”
Keeping the tyres in the correct performance window proved tricky for Vettel at the start of the grand prix, but he knew if he bided his time, he would have the pace at the end of the race.
“My start was not good, then there was the accident so I took it a bit easy; most important, the car was still intact, but after the restart it was tricky to get the tyres working.
“I was on the primes, I lost quite a lot of time behind the Sauber, it was quite tough to get past, but then it was important to survive until we fitted the last set of ultra-softs at the end, where we really could unfold the pace.
“In the last laps we had a big gap from the front and from the back, so I took it easy.”
As a racer Vettel would love to be fighting for wins at every round on the Formula One calendar, however he is confident that the progress Ferrari are making right now, will pave the way to a more positive future.
“I know patience is not a quality of the Ferraristi, it’s not a quality of mine either, we are here to win and we’re not satisfied until it happens, but we’re progressing step by step and one day I think it will pay off.
“I believe in the team, and I believe that in the future it will be better.”
