Vettel: the deployment of the safety car was "unlucky"

This Chinese Grand Prix concluded positively for Ferrari with a podium secured thanks to Sebastian Vettel’s 2nd place behind Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen’s 5th place. The Maranello team leaves Shanghai behind Mercedes in the constructors’ standings by just one point, but they’re more aware than ever of how close they are to their German rival in the hierarchy of the grid. While the Finnish Räikkönen reported a momentary power issue over the radio, for Vettel, it was the strategy of the first pit stop, employed in response to the safety car’s intervention following Sauber driver Giovinazzi’s crash, that seems to have hindered the German in his fight for victory.

Sebastian Vettel, 2nd

Following the activation of the virtual safety car (VSC), several drivers rushed to the pits to replace their green sidewall intermediate Pirelli tires with super soft slicks for some, soft for others like Sebastian Vettel, while others including the leader Lewis Hamilton remained on track.

Thinking he could take advantage of this context to save time on the pit straight and maintain an acceptable performance level of his tires, Vettel found that the intervention of the safety car complicated his work: « I realized that the intermediate tires were degrading a lot. I knew some parts of the track were dry and I was happy to take the risk […] But the safety car came in (following Giovinazzi’s car losing control) so I could feel that the dry tires were much faster, thus I lost many positions ». Vettel’s early stop to fit particularly complex tires that were difficult to bring up to temperature during a significant part of the race also cost the Scuderia driver dearly.

Despite this, this strategic mishap allowed the German to delight the spectators with several overtakes, starting with his own teammate after dropping to 6th place, and then on the Red Bull drivers, notably Daniel Ricciardo.

*That* pass by Vettel on Ricciardo 😮#WheelToWheel #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/aLWKJEZOQt

— Formula 1 (@F1) 9 avril 2017

As for his direct battle against Lewis Hamilton at the end of the race, Sebastian Vettel believes they were almost evenly matched and that, therefore, he could hope to make up his ten-second deficit when Hamilton made his last pit stop to claim victory: « I kept pushing, just in case he made a mistake, and I appreciated the fact that we were competing, even from a distance […] I think the pace was pretty equal, sometimes he was faster and sometimes I was faster ».

Kimi Räikkönen, 5th

The Finnish driver seemed frustrated during the race. Alongside the understeer issues already identified before the start of the Grand Prix, *Iceman* reported to his team problems related to the power unit of his car as well as difficulties with his tires.

Interviewed after the race, the Finn did not wish to blame his team: « We didn’t have a specific problem […] The car was good when the tires were fresh but we seemed to lose the front tires. On a circuit like this, it costs a lot of time ».

In sum, Räikkönen appears fatalistic: « I think we could have had a slightly better result, but this is what we got ».