Breaking news
Formula 1 German GP
Vettel: Fastest lap chase led to last-lap off in German GP
Ferrari Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel says the last-lap off that nearly cost him second place in the German Grand Prix was a consequence of him pushing for the fastest lap.
Valentin Khorounzhiy Scott Mitchell
Edited: Aug 1, 2019, 8:25 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Having been resigned to last place on the grid by an intercooler failure in qualifying, Vettel scythed his way through the pack in the mixed-weather 64-lap event to run a few seconds behind eventual race winner Max Verstappen in the final stretch.
But with track conditions the best they had been all race, Vettel came up just 0.149s short of Verstappen’s single-lap race benchmark on the penultimate tour, and pushed again in an effort to take the bonus point away from the Dutchman.
Instead, he ran off the track at the Turn 8 left-hander and emerged only just ahead of the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat, stretching his advantage back to almost a second by the chequered flag.
“I went off because I was pushing for fastest lap and it didn’t work,” Vettel admitted ahead of the subsequent weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
“It’s what we do in the race. You try to chase the limit and sometimes you get close to it, sometimes you get too close.
“I think I’m not the only guy who went a little bit too close, but fortunately I picked the right place rather than the wrong place.
“I’m happy we got to the chequered flag and we used our chances when we got them, especially in the last third of the race.”
Vettel’s charge to second ended his run of three races off the podium, but the German felt Ferrari couldn’t be overly positive about its German GP outing, given it suffered two costly failures in qualifying.
“If you start last and get on the podium, you’ve come a long way, but overall we can’t be happy with the weekend in Hockenheim because we had big issues on Saturday and only one car saw the chequered flag on Sunday,” he said.
“Hopefully we’ll look back in a couple of weeks or months and say that, yeah, it [a turnaround] started to happen from there.
“But obviously the target is to win, so the whole team, including me, we’ve put a lot of effort into the project - into making sure we’re faster than the others. And currently we’re not, so far we haven’t been faster for most of the season, so we can’t be happy with that.”
Read Also:
Ferrari needs "more time" for full fix to Leclerc issue
While Vettel's qualifying issue has seemingly been resolved, Ferrari still needs "a little bit more time" to fix the fuel system problem that had sidelined Leclerc, according to the Monegasque.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said after the two problems that it needed to sort its internal approach to reliability, but the team has not disclosed the cause of those issues or the countermeasures put in place to prevent a repeat.
However, it is understood that Ferrari considers the problem to have occurred in unique circumstances and is very unlikely to happen again.
Asked by Motorsport.com if he was confident the issues would not appear in this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Leclerc said: “I think on both issues there has been quite a lot of analysis done. So, we are working on solutions.
"I think on Seb's one it's completely fixed. On our one it needs a little bit more time. But we understood what caused it so we are confident it won't happen again this weekend.”
Leclerc recovered from his qualifying issue to run at the front in the wild German GP but crashed out moments after moving into second place.
He said in Hungary that his response to that accident had not been as intense as when he crashed in qualifying in Azerbaijan, despite the consequences being bigger.
“After Baku I was definitely not the way I am now,” he said. “For me it was a much bigger mistake [in Baku].
“At Hockenheim the consequences have been very big, probably bigger than they were actually in Baku in qualifying because we are not scoring points, but on the other hand the conditions were very, very bad.”
Additional reporting by Roberto Chinchero
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Hungarian GP: Thursday press conference
Next article Hamilton sees "opportunity" in potential Verstappen team-up
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Valentin Khorounzhiy
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
WTCR
WTCR
Hungaroring
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
General
General
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
More from
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel gives update on F1 future as he opens up on life after retirement
Formula 1
Formula 1
Azerbaijan GP
Sebastian Vettel gives update on F1 future as he opens up on life after retirement
Sebastian Vettel: F1 must combine “things we love” with sustainable future
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sebastian Vettel: F1 must combine “things we love” with sustainable future
More from
Scuderia Ferrari
Charles Leclerc and Pecco Bagnaia: From kings to princes
MotoGP
MotoGP
Charles Leclerc and Pecco Bagnaia: From kings to princes
Sainz blasts "most unfair penalty ever", seeks stewards' explanation
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Sainz blasts "most unfair penalty ever", seeks stewards' explanation
Calado: "Difficult" for WEC Hypercar newcomers "to win straight off"
WEC
WEC
Calado: "Difficult" for WEC Hypercar newcomers "to win straight off"
Latest news
Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Phoenix
2 h
Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead
GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
7 h
GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend
Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 7 h
Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
12 h
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe