Sunday, 07 June 2009 00:00
Sebastian Vettel admits he thought Red Bull would switch him to a two-stop strategy after falling behind Jenson Button on the opening lap in Turkey, but nevertheless concedes the Brawn driver simply proved too fast for the team.
The German driver blew his chance to open up an advantage at the front from pole position on a lighter fuel load when he ran wide at turn nine, the error allowing Button into the lead and compromising his three-stop strategy.
Nevertheless at his first stop RBR opted to keep Vettel on an aggressive second stint – a decision that eventually relegated him to third behind team-mate Mark Webber after losing time behind the heavier-fuelled Button.
Vettel admits he simply made a mistake at the start but reckons that given Brawn’s race pace it was unlikely he would have won the race in any case.
He did express surprise however that his strategy wasn’t switched after his early error.
“It worked out okay at the start – I stayed ahead – but then I nearly lost the car in nine and 10, it was my mistake I think,” he said.
“All race it was very difficult there, I think there was a bit of tailwind, it was extremely difficult – even on the second lap I nearly lost the car again so it was quite tricky.
“But still I think it wouldn’t have made a big difference because Jenson was just too quick today and I don’t think I would have been able to hold him anyway.
“Anyway, after that I knew my strategy but at some point I was sure that, we’ve seen that Jenson is not behind, we were not hoping to get to him, it was the opposite, I thought we were switching to two stop, we did not.”
Needing to get ahead of Button on lighter fuel during his short second stint to make his three-stop strategy work, Vettel quickly caught the Brawn driver but couldn’t find a way past.
The German believes he only had one realistic chance to overtake, when Button got slightly out of shape in the final chicane, but in the end proved too difficult.
“In the second stint I was in traffic to Jenson because he was on a heavier fuel load than me,” Vettel said.
“I nearly passed him, there was one chance but it was a quite tricky, and after that I lost a little bit of time there and it turned out that the three stop was possibly not as quick as the two stop today.”
With his extra stint compromised Vettel was then unable to lap faster than team-mate Mark Webber ahead of their respective final stops, the Australian the one to claim second.
Vettel acknowledges a 2-3 result was strong for the team, but concedes for him third was disappointing after starting from pole.
“Nevertheless a good result for the team – I am not happy – but I think we can be very satisfied to take second and third and it’s getting closer so that’s a good thing,” he added.
Vettel’s third place means he slips 32 points behind Button in the drivers’ championship, although Red Bull at least claws four points back on Brawn in the constructors’ championship.
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