Sebastian Vettel admitted he was disappointed to miss out on victory in today's Hungarian Grand Prix, despite finishing in second place to match his best-ever result for Aston Martin.
Vettel survived a major multi-car accident in wet conditions at the start of the race that wiped out his team mate Lance Stroll as well as the likes of Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez.
Having started from tenth on the grid, Vettel found himself in third place for the restart which then became second when second when Lewis Hamilton was forced to make a belated pit stop for a change to slick tyres.
However there was nothing Vettel could do to oust Alpine F1's Esteban Ocon from the lead, meaning he had to settle for the runner-up spot.
"I'm obviously a little bit disappointed because I felt I was faster for the majority of the race," he told Sky Sports F1 afterwards.
"Obviously it's a great result for us but when it's that close, you're always looking at the win rather than the second.
"I think we are very close with Esteban in terms of pace. I pushed so hard, I tried to push him into a mistake.
"But Esteban didn't make a single mistake and I didn't really get close enough. It's not an easy track to overtake," Vettel said. "He did well to defend the way he did and not running into a mistake.
"It's so difficult in the final part of the middle sector to stay close enough, otherwise I think I could have tried something.
"I really pushed very, very hard. But he stayed on track, and well deserved for him to celebrate his first victory."
Vettel said that he'd had a poor start to the race in the wet conditions, but that ironically that meant he was out of danger when it all kicked off at turn 1.
"I had a very very bad start, but it turned out to be the best place to be," he commented. "There was a lot of stuff going on ahead of me,.
"I took it easy and took the inside line that was clean, and found myself basically at the front of the pack. That definitely made our race today."
However Vettel will now have to appear before the race stewards after being summoned to discuss "pre-race procedure".
The four-time world champion wore a rainbow-coloured T-shirt for the pre-race ceremony in support of the LGBTQ+ community in Hungary.
FIA protocol states that drivers must "remove their T-shirts" during the national anthem. if they contain a political or campaigning message.
"I heard it's because I left my shirt on for the national anthem," Vettel confirmed. "I'm happy if they disqualify me. They can do whatever they want to me, I don't care. I would do it again."
As the alleged breach did not relate directly to the race, it's thought unlikely that a time or points penalty will be applied. However it's the first time that the stewards have looked into such infringements.
Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll have also been summoned to the stewards to discuss similar matters.
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