Sebastian Vettel endured a rather inconsistent race in Bahrain where the German's competitive race pace was hindered by a few uncharacteristic mistakes which in the end brought the Ferrari driver a fifth place finish.
Vettel expected to be in the running for a podium finish, as the team initially used the undercut pit strategy favorably, but ultimately found himself outside of the top three.
"Not a very good race on my side to be honest, with too many mistakes and too much time spent in traffic," admitted Vettel. " I did not get into the rhythm and lost positions when it mattered not to lose positions for the overall race."
While battling Rosberg, Vettel ran wide at the final corner which damaged the Ferrari's front wing and forced the German into an extra pitstop.
"Defending my position against Nico today wasn't my strength, I ran a little wide and it was my mistake. I was trying to push, but in the end I probably tried a bit too hard today."
Vettel then found himself trailing Bottas, and was unsuccessful in getting past the Williams driver.
"When I was in the DRS zone it was too late to really try and do something, so Valterri did a good job defending and didn’t make any mistakes, but I just couldn’t get close enough."
Vettel now expects the Scuderia to keep its foot down during the three week break until the Spanish Grand Prix, as the team continues to build its momentum and attempt to fill the gap with its Mercedes rival.
"Overall it is a big surprise how good and strong we are, so that is very positive, but there is a long way to go when you talk about the whole season. It will take a while before we are a decent match for Mercedes but for sure every weekend that is coming, we will try to put more and more pressure on them if we can."
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