Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Second was there for the taking - Vettel

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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

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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.