Sebastian Vettel admits there was little he could do to challenge Valtteri Bottas once he got ahead in the Japanese Grand Prix.
After the German had upset the form book by claiming a scorching pole in the morning, it all went to waste in the first few hundred metres as he failed to get away cleanly allowing the Finn to blast ahead.
“I mean the lights were on for a long time but it was my mistake so I lost the momentum there, it was worse than just having a poor start, it was a really poor start,” he said post-race.
“Then it was difficult because Mercedes was quite quick in the race, they had more pace than us, Valtteri was flying at the end of the first stint and then Lewis [Hamilton] tried a one-stopper and I guess it didn’t work.”
Indeed the last 10 laps saw a tense duel between Vettel and Hamilton, but it was the four-time world champion who hung on to keep second.
“In the end, I knew he would come out behind, so I paced myself around and tried to get good exits in places he could be a threat,” Seb explained.
“They could have played a lot more with the tactics, that way they had one car comfortably in the lead. We weren’t a threat to him. We just lacked a little bit of pace.
“Overall it’s been a positive day, with everything packed into one day, to get pole and second is reasonable,” he added.
There was a little controversy attached to his position though as the stewards chose not to penalise what appeared to be a clear jump start with the Ferrari jolting forward before the lights went out.
“Whilst the video shows some movement that movement was within the acceptable tolerance of the F1 jump-start system which formerly defines a jump start per Article 36.13(a) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations,” the stewards ruling read.
It was also noted Vettel’s car was stationary again when the lights did go out, unlike Kimi Raikkonen two weeks earlier in Sochi.
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Not everyone was happy with the decision though.
“I was watching back the footage from Seb’s start, I mean he moves, he stops, and the rules say you cannot move and that’s fine because he didn’t gain an advantage they said,” Max Verstappen claimed
“I really don’t understand what’s going on today with the rules.”