Sebastian Vettel has labelled Ferrari’s 2015 season “a miracle”, as the German capped it with a strong recovery race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Vettel joined Maranello last winter on the back of a somewhat disappointing 2014 campaign at Red Bull, while the Scuderia was coming off its worst year in over two decades.
Vettel and Ferrari quickly emerged as Mercedes’ new nearest rivals though, with the four-time world champion claiming three victories and being the only driver other than Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to win in 2015.
“I think back to testing and where we are now and it is a miracle,” said Vettel.
“It is a miracle compared to where we started off last winter. We were setting fastest times, but going to Australia we got the confirmation that we were a long way behind [Mercedes].
“Then I haven’t seen any other team making that much progress throughout the season. Obviously we had upgrades on our engine and we upgraded our car and naturally that brought us closer.
“We had a lot of smiles this year and if we can increase the number of smiles then it is also good news.”
Lining up a lowly 15th on the Yas Marina grid, the German made the most of his raw pace and clever tyre strategy to climb all the way up to fourth.
“I think in the end it was the best possible result. Ideally I would love to have been closer, but that is natural, you always want to be closer to the car in front, it is never nice [to finish behind].
“We have had a lot of races this year where we have finished 30 or 40 seconds behind Mercedes. It is a great feeling to finish on the podium but it is also not so nice to finish a long way behind the car in front. Considering where we started it was a great race.”
REPORT: Rosberg takes third win in a row to end season
AS IT HAPPENED: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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