Ferrari couldn’t have hoped for better in Barcelona

Despite a beautiful third place in qualifying and a brilliant start that saw him overtake Lewis Hamilton for second place, Sebastian Vettel had to come to terms with reality during the race and settle for the last step of the podium this Sunday.

The German, somewhat resigned, is nonetheless satisfied to have secured important points in the championship: « All in all, I believe that third place was the best we could achieve with our pace. I don’t think we did anything wrong, but maybe it wasn’t the best weekend for us in terms of competitiveness. However, it is more due to the conditions than a real problem with the car. We have to be honest and accept that the Mercedes were the best today. But I am sure that, in a few races, we will come back even stronger. »

On his side, Kimi Räikkönen had a complicated race after having the latest upgrades removed from his car by Ferrari this weekend. The Finn struggled to find a perfect balance: « Of course, it was a difficult weekend for us, but not catastrophic. We learned a lot. We gained a few positions in the race, but I wasn’t very comfortable with the car; it was sliding quite a bit. We were able to catch up with the Williams, but for various reasons, it was difficult to overtake them. They were very fast on the straights. In the next race, we will need to do a better job. We know where we need to improve. »

Remarks confirmed by Maurizio Arrivabene, who expected a more decisive progress from his men: « We made a step forward, but it was supposed to be a leap. I have no one in particular to blame, I take my responsibilities. We need to work even harder. »

However, the developments made to Vettel’s car during the race proved to be advantageous as confirmed by the Italian: « The comparison between the two aerodynamic configurations during the race clearly proved that Sebastian’s car performed better than Kimi’s. But we still need to improve. »