Sebastian Vettel is understandably frustrated with his race today in Turkey. The strategy set forth by the team did not work out the way they had planned and in the mind of the young German driver, they should have changed strategies on the fly to compensate. unfortunately that didn’t happen.
“After the first stint it was more or less clear that I was short on fuel and therefore I was surprised that we still went on a three stop strategy as from there onwards it did not make much sense especially as I caught up Jenson in my middle stint and lost time there,†Vettel explained. “I basically lost the race to Mark as well, so all in all we probably didn’t do the best job there.â€
“I was surprised it was that much and then my engineer came on the radio and said Mark was faster,†he continued. “I think I just have to ask you what you would do in this kind of situation.
You start from pole, you realise that your strategy doesn’t work as it was supposed to and you’re not in the position you want to be, so the last thing you do is just go round slowly and drive the car home. I think both of us turned down the engines but I enjoy driving, so I would rather continue to go quickly than start to slow down and carry the car home.â€â€œAt this point I haven’t spoken to the team but at this point I don’t yet understand why we were still on a three stop. I think a two stop would have just secured second position. We tried; it didn’t work, so we’ll know next time.â€
But team boss Christian Horner sees it differently. When asked if the three-stop strategy was the right choice, he said:
Yes, absolutely. Otherwise on lap 15 we would have conceded the race.
