Sebastian Vettel believes he could have finished second in the Spanish Grand Prix with the right strategy.

Having jumped ahead of Lewis Hamilton at the start of the race, Vettel was able to hold off the Mercedes in the opening two stints as Hamilton struggled to pass at the Circuit de Catalunya. However, with Mercedes switching the double world champion to a three-stop strategy, Vettel eventually finished half a minute adrift in third.

Despite the gap, when asked if second was a realistic possibility, Vettel replied: “I think it was, obviously we were hanging in there pretty well.

“I had a good start, we were able to get past Lewis and we did the right thing covering him at the first top. Then unfortunately they switched to a three-stop and they were too quick so we couldn’t keep up with the pace they had today.

“Third is the best we could do. Very happy, the car is great, great to see the fans and all the Ferrari flags so very happy.”

With Ferrari appearing to drop away from Mercedes in Spain, Vettel is sure the upcoming races will  play more in to his team’s hands, adding: “I am pretty confident we will get closer again pretty soon.”

Click here for Sunday's gallery from the Spanish Grand Prix

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Bearman gives harsh verdict on his stand-in outing

Oliver Bearman got quite the early morning wake-up call on Friday in Sao Paulo when…

12 mins ago

Red Bull still 'looking at the facts' regarding Perez's performance

While his team mate Max Verstappen thrilled the fans with a run from 17th on…

60 mins ago

Sad Colapinto laments two crashes in one day in Sao Paulo

Williams suffered a bruising time on Sunday in Sao Paulo, with Alex Albon unable to…

2 hours ago

McLaren: No regrets over timing of Norris pit stop in Sao Paulo GP

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has insisted that the squad has no regrets about their…

4 hours ago

Williams' Boutsen hoists the mainsail in Adelaide

On this day in 1989, Williams' Thierry Boutsen secured his second F1 win when he…

5 hours ago

Horner: Max 'answered critics' with epic Sao Paulo GP drive

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hailed Max Verstappen’s sensational Sao Paulo Grand Prix victory…

6 hours ago