Vettel: Ferrari “not quick enough, simple as that”

The lowly finish means Vettel falls from third to fifth in the Drivers' Championship.

Vettel had just set fastest lap after being the first car to pit for slick tyres, but then spun almost immediately at Farm Curve, having run on to the wet patch at Abbey.

Despite this, Vettel believes he pitted at the correct time.

“The call to come in was right,” said Vettel. “But then obviously I lost a lot of time when I spun, so all the advantage was lost again and from then it was quite difficult to pass and move ahead.

“Overall it was not our day, not quick enough simple as that.”

Time penalty “not necessary”

Vettel also received a 5s time penalty for a robust pass on Felipe Massa’s Williams at Village.

Although he admitted blame for the incident, he did not think it was worthy of a penalty.

“I don’t think it was necessary,” he added. “It was not like I was purposely trying to squeeze him out, I was going out of the track myself, I just didn’t have any grip.

“Every time I wanted to keep turning in, I lost the rear, lost the rear, lost the rear. Obviously for him it looks bad, I don’t know if he had as little grip as I had then.

“For him it looks like I was forcing him off the track but I couldn’t go anywhere else.”