Sebastian Vettel says his ability to get the most out of this year’s Ferrari comes from him learning about the current generation of F1 cars after struggling last season.
The four-time world champion’s final season with Red Bull was a disappointing one, with the team unable to seriously challenge Mercedes and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo taking Red Bull’s only three victories of the year. Having already secured two wins this year and taken his first pole position for Ferrari in Singapore, Vettel says he had to learn from the struggles he faced in 2014 to become a better driver.
“Last year for sure I didn’t have a great year and all in all Daniel had a very good year and beat me fair and square, many times,” Vettel said. “Other times I was in front but overall it was not the best year for myself.
“A lot of stuff that I learned … I obviously didn’t have a good start to the season, didn’t drive the car very often. I think I did about one day of testing, one proper day of testing, before the season, and then we had lots of issues – but still, I think I’m experienced enough to know what to do to go quick but yeah, simply wasn’t good enough.
“Daniel showed that he could go quicker with the car on occasions. I think I’ve learned a couple of bits about this generation of cars, let’s say and probably the way the season went last year has helped me for this year.”
Vettel currently sits 74 points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton and 21 points adrift of Nico Rosberg having taken two wins and six further podiums from the 12 rounds so far.
REPORT: Vettel storms to Singapore pole as Mercedes dominance ends
AS IT HAPPENED: Singapore Grand Prix qualifying
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