Vettel: 'Harder than it looked from the outside'

From the outside it all looked like a relatively easy win for Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel in Brazil but the German driver insisted it was tough work inside the cockpit all afternoon.

Vettel overhauled poleman Valtteri Bottas at the start, inching ahead at the first corner as the Mercedes and the Ferrari battled for position.

It was all about race management, team work and keeping focused thereafter but Vettel admitted that his Finnish rival kept him on his toes all afternoon.

"It wasn't that easy inside, I was pushing all the way and I think Valtteri as well," said Vettel who delivered to Ferrari its first win since Hungary last summer.

"He was told to put a lot of pressure; he did but fortunately he never got in the DRS range. I think that was the key to make sure that always in the middle sector to make his life a bit tougher.

• Bottas: "We lost it in the first corner"

"I wanted to break free and control the race with a little bit more gap than 1.5 to 3 seconds. First part of the second stint, after the close stop, it worked well, I could jump a little bit on him.

"Traffic is always an unknown because I didn't know how much I was going to lose compared to him, but I think it was pretty equal.

"So in those first laps in the second stint I was able to stretch a bit of a gap and control that until the end, but basically we had the same pace."

Vettel also praised his team, and himself, for perfectly executing his pitstop.

"Yeah, they worked brilliantly," he said.

"I was really happy with my approach on the way in because I had a couple of wobbles this year at times, which doesn't help the guys if the car doesn't come in perfect position

"But the stop was really quick so we got going. I was told it was really close, but it was enough and I was happy it worked.

In the end, Vettel headed up a double podium finish for Ferrari, a result which follows up on his ambition to cap off the Scuderia's season with a win following a very difficult period for the Italian outfit.

"I’m really happy especially for all the guys in the team and back home in Maranello," said Vettel.

"They’ve been working so hard. It’s been a tough couple of weeks for us, but nice to get it to the end and have both cars up here."

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