Failing to pass Massa 'cost us', admits Vettel

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Sebastian Vettel started the Monaco Grand Prix from fourth position, and finished in exactly the same place two hours and 78 laps later. The four-time world champion felt that Ferrari had called the right strategy for the race but that his prospects of finishing on the podium were undone by the long spell he was bottled up behind Felipe Massa's Williams.

"We definitely did the right thing, but first of all it was very slippery so it was tricky to stay on track in the beginning. We managed and we were aggressive on the first stop which was the right call.

"But at that point I need to find a way past Felipe which I didn’t and that cost us quite a lot. It cost us all the momentum to the leaders, and that is the reason why we were then all tangled up with that group around the pit stop for dries.

"I’m not entirely happy because even if it was very difficult to pass, I still expect from myself that I have to somehow pass. I was quicker than Felipe. I don’t know why they stayed out so long, that also caught us out a bit. It didn’t make sense for him to go that far on the extremes, but would, could, should.

"If the Williams pits when it time to pit for him, it looks a lot different. That is my bet, if I find a way past. Again we caught the group of Rosberg on the extremes. They pitted and we kept on catching the leaders at that point on extreme tires because we were on intermediates on a drying track. But it didn’t happen.

"If I'd cleared Felipe at that point in the beginning then we would have been more focused on the first two positions – to get those rather than worry about a podium. So that is where we lost the momentum, lost the race.

"A missed opportunity which I accept and mostly blame myself," he concluded. "The car was definitely quick enough to go quicker or better than the way we finished, but that is also Monaco – it is not that easy to overtake."

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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.